Celebrity Advertising
Celebrity Endorsement
1. Introduction
In the past two or three decades celebrity advertising/endorsement has become common practice amongst brands that wish to create and maintain attention, as well as increase product or brand recall rates (Erdogan, 1999). However, the juxtaposition of brands and organisations with admirable figures that possess qualities such as likeability, attractiveness, trustworthiness and credibility is not a new phenomenon (Erdogan, 1999). It is believed that an eighteenth century potter named Josia Wedgewood was the pioneer of using celebrities to his advantage when Queen Charlotte began using his products, after which he began referring to himself as “potter to Her Majesty” (Seno & Lukas, 2007). Since then the use of public figures to sell products has assumed a more corporate structure with contracts in place to guide the process, governing compensation, the celebrity’s level of involvement in the product and termination rights and procedures. In this paper, the literature overview of celebrities and celebrity endorsement will be presented, as well as the historical development of celebrity endorsement. Its effectiveness on investments and consumers in developing countries will be critically discussed, as well as the benefits and risks of celebrity endorsement. The deal between Nike and Tiger Woods will also be critically discussed and applied as an example of the effects of celebrity endorsement, as well as the effects of negative publicity.
2. Historical Development
The cigarette industry was the first to formally use a celebrity to endorse a product in 1905 when Murad Cigarettes used comedians Fatty Arbuckle and Harry Bulger (Clark & Horstmann, 2005). The growth of commercial radio in the 1930s and commercial television in the 1950s is credited with the early development of celebrity endorsement (Erdogan, 1999). In those days the supply of celebrities was very limited and they only used their status as ‘brand
1. Introduction
In the past two or three decades celebrity advertising/endorsement has become common practice amongst brands that wish to create and maintain attention, as well as increase product or brand recall rates (Erdogan, 1999). However, the juxtaposition of brands and organisations with admirable figures that possess qualities such as likeability, attractiveness, trustworthiness and credibility is not a new phenomenon (Erdogan, 1999). It is believed that an eighteenth century potter named Josia Wedgewood was the pioneer of using celebrities to his advantage when Queen Charlotte began using his products, after which he began referring to himself as “potter to Her Majesty” (Seno & Lukas, 2007). Since then the use of public figures to sell products has assumed a more corporate structure with contracts in place to guide the process, governing compensation, the celebrity’s level of involvement in the product and termination rights and procedures. In this paper, the literature overview of celebrities and celebrity endorsement will be presented, as well as the historical development of celebrity endorsement. Its effectiveness on investments and consumers in developing countries will be critically discussed, as well as the benefits and risks of celebrity endorsement. The deal between Nike and Tiger Woods will also be critically discussed and applied as an example of the effects of celebrity endorsement, as well as the effects of negative publicity.
2. Historical Development
The cigarette industry was the first to formally use a celebrity to endorse a product in 1905 when Murad Cigarettes used comedians Fatty Arbuckle and Harry Bulger (Clark & Horstmann, 2005). The growth of commercial radio in the 1930s and commercial television in the 1950s is credited with the early development of celebrity endorsement (Erdogan, 1999). In those days the supply of celebrities was very limited and they only used their status as ‘brand
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