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Celebrity
Advertising: Does It Make Things Easy?
Ankit Dhasmana
“A
celebrity is a name which, once made by news, now makes news by
itself”.
If
we’re rapidly turning the pages of a glossy magazine or surfing
the Television channel at high speed, an advertisement featuring
Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan or Karisma Kapoor is
sure to slow us down. Then again we might find the exasperating
ad-lines or jingles buzzing in our head all through the day.
Celebrity endorsements ensure that the product lingers in the
memory long after the advertisement has been seen and phrases like
‘Zor ka jhatka dheere se lage', 'Khoob jamegi jab mil baithenge
teen yaar, and ‘Nothing official about It’
are often discussed in informal circles.
Celebrities,
particularly movie stars, TV personalities, and sports heroes,
provide a popular type of reference group appeal to their loyal
followers and to lots among the general public. They represent an
idealization of life that most people would love to live,
especially in India where people are crazy about Movies, Cricket
and Religion. Celebrities constitute an important reference group,
yielding great influence over us. If these were the reasons then
why did Maruti Versa fail in spite of being endorsed by Amitabh
Bachan and Abhishek Bachan?
Do celebrity endorsements just improve the ‘shelf life’ of the
advertisement or do they influence the purchase decision directly?
Or in other words “Is star as a salesman effective?”
A celebrity may be seen as a testimonial, or endorsement, as an
actor in a commercial, or as a company spokesperson.
1.
Testimonials.
If the celebrity has personally used the product or service
and is in a position to attest to its quality, he or she may give
a testimonial citing its benefits.
E.G:
Shah
Rukh Khan testifies to the benefits of Hyundai’s Santro.
2.
Endorsement.
Celebrities often are asked to lend their name to ads for
products or services with which they may or may not be experts.
E.G:
Sachin
Tendulkar endorses for Visa Credit Cards, Amitabh Bachan for BPL.
3.
Actor,
A celebrity may be asked to present a product or service as part
of a character enactment, rather than as a personal testimonial or
endorsement. E.G: Kapil
Dev and Romi Dev character enact for Samsung electronics to
deliver the message
4.
Spokesperson.
A celebrity who represents a brand or company over an
extended period of time, often in print and television
advertisements, and in personal appearances, is usually called a company
spokesperson. Eventually, the
celebrity’s appearance becomes closely associated with the brand
or company.
E.G:
For
the past several years, for example Aishwarya
Rai is the Spokesperson for Longines watches.
Sachin Tendulkar endorses more than a dozen products from Todays
ball pen to Visa credit card to Palio, Sharukh khan features in
Santro, Bagpiper, Airtel and lot more. Looking at the number of
Ads in which a single celebrity features isn’t it deceptive? Can
we actually associate the brand with them? Doesn’t it lead to
overexposure of the celebrity? Should there be any sort of cap on
the number of advertisements done by celebrities?
Advertisers
spend enormous sums of money to have celebrities promote their
products, with the expectation that the reading or viewing
audience will react positively to the celebrity’s association
with their product. Should
the image of the product be risked on the fallibility of a single
person?Hansie Cronje, Azharuddin, and Ajay jadeja had to be pulled
out of all the Ads after the match-fixing scandal. Mike Tyson was
dropped by Diet Pepsi after the heavyweight champ’s much
publicized marital problems.Salman Khans Ads were stopped after he
was caught in the deer hunting case. Celebrity endorsements and
testmonials have become so lucrative that a special branch of the
publicity sub-industry has evolved to manage them.What is the
risk-return ratio that an ideal marketer should be ready to take?
Many
believe that it is the instrument of foolish marketers.They stand
by the fact that the stars are only misleading the consumers
instead of guiding them and they themselves might switch leaving
the consumers confused.
E.G:
Aamir
Khan and Aiswarya Rai endorsed Pepsi but are now seen in Coke’s
Ad.These products are direct compettitors in the Indian market.
.Are they loyal towards the audience?
Amitabh
Bachan, the most dignified personality of Indian cinema is seen
endorsing products like Lehar Mirinda,Sharukh Khan endorsing
products like Mayur suitings.Is there a mismatch in the personlity
vis-à-vis the product? Is it true that Indian advertiser first
selects the celebrity and then decides on the product thus
creating a blunder? Should there be more focus on deciding the
product first and then decide the celebrity?
Mega
brands don't always depend on celebrities to hard sell for them.
Coke has a policy of not getting its products endorsed through
celebrities throughout the world. But it India even they resorted
to such a practice. Is it imperative for the company to do that?
Then there are companies who are switching over to celebrity
advertisements like Hero Honda. Is the switch justified
considering the sale they already generated in the Auto Industry?
Doesn’t
celebrity Ads lead to spread of unethical practices in the
society? Bagpiper
Ads featuring Sharukh khan, Akshay Kumar, Dharmendra and Baba
Zarda with Govinda and Amzad Khan are some of the examples.
It is high time that we as a society give it a serious thought.
By:
Ankit
Dhasmana
Master
in International Business
Delhi
School of Economics
Delhi
University
Email:
ankitdhasmana@yahoo.com
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