Wednesday, March 9, 2016

The Effect of Celebrities in Advertisements

Introduction 

In the marketing world, celebrities are playing a significant role in the modern consumption and cultural patterns. The number of the producers endorsing the celebrities in their advertising is increasing. For instance, in the United States, the celebrity endorsements represented 14 to 19 percent of all advertisement aired in the country (Elberse and Verleun 149). Companies are increasingly endorsing celebrities in their advertisement because they have realized that this marketing strategy makes them more competent, trustworthy, and more attractive that the competitors who do not endorse celebrities. Such qualities are helping companies to acquire a competitive advantage by differentiating it product from the competitors.
   

Kanye Omari West aka Kanye West
 (American Rapper) on Adidas ad.  


   



                                                                                                            Usher Terry Raymond aka Usher (American                                                                                             celebrity) on MasterCard ad.  



“Celebrity effects”
In the contemporary world, most of the audiences tend to ignore all the advertisement and commercials while reading newspapers, magazine or viewing their TV.    However, when a known celebrity is featured in the advertisement, people get attracted to the advertisement and it hardly for that ad to go unnoticed. A celebrity is recognized as a person who has an established public recognition and utilizes that recognition to popularize certain consumer good through advertisement (Zafar and Rafique 53). Such celebrities have appealing qualities such as special skills, extraordinary lifestyle, and attractiveness. 

When a firm utilizes a celebrity in their advertisement, they Experience both cost and benefits. Such benefits and costs are known as the impact of using a celebrity to an advertisement or the "celebrity effects." The consumer advertisement has reasonable effects on the consumers regarding their purchase intention and attitude. 
The fundamental relevance and rationale for the "celebrity effects" is to capture the audience attention by appealing to them to the consumer a certain product. 

Most consumers usually are interested in the celebrities' activities and imitates them in their lifestyle. Therefore, consumers are more likely to notice a certain product when they see their favorite celebrity on the advertisement. In other words, celebrity advertisement enhances communication between the producer and the consumer of the particular commodity in the business communication world. 


Pros and cons of "celebrity effects." 
Pros 
Firms that uses celebrities in their advertisement derives various benefits. Advertisements featuring the celebrities generates awareness and create attention to the product being advertised. In this age of stiff competition, "celebrity endorsements give an extra edge to the companies for holding the viewers' attention" (Zafar and Rafique 54). In addition, "celebrity effects” enhances credibility and reputation of the firm. 

For instance, a celebrity who are sincere and have professional skills appeal the consumers to view the brand and product in a positive way. Zafar and Rafique reveal, "Chinese consumers prefer Celebrity commercial & respondents collectively like a celebrity who have more professional career skill" (55). Respected celebrities who have positive reputation also helps the firm to build it reputation, since the consumers associate the firm with such celebrities. 
Featuring celebrity on the advertisement helps the firm to increase sales. 

Elberse and Verleun illustrate that there are two main reasons why celebrity endorsement can increase sales. First, featuring high-profile celebrities encourages the consumers to purchase a product by assuring them of the true quality of the product. Second, the celebrity advertisement helps the firm to achieve particular attributes that help the firm to differentiate its products from those of competitors (Elberse and Verleun 151). 

Cons 
The most common disadvantages of the celebrity advertisement are associated with the celebrity's reputation and behaviors. For instance, negative reputation regarding celebrity results in a negative attitude towards the brand and product. Therefore, negative reputation of the celebrity might damage the reputation of the brand or the company as a whole. In addition, acquiring high-profile celebrity is expensive to the extent that small business cannot afford them.
The niche for my blog is the celebrity advertisement. Despite giving pros and cons of the "celebrity effects", I would also like to research on the effective strategy that fits with the celebrity advertisement. 

Conclusion  



It is evident that that the benefits of the "celebrity effects" outweighs the costs. Benefits include creating attention and generating awareness, building reputation and credibility, and increasing sales. However, costs include damaging reputation if the celebrity has a negative reputation and the high cost of hiring the celebrity. This explains the reason behind increase use of celebrities in the advertisements.











                                                                       Works Cited

Elberse, Anita, and Jeroen Verleun. "The Economic Value of Celebrity Endorsements." Journal of  Advertising Research 52.2 (2012): 149-165. Web. 8 Mar. 2016. <http://www.people.hbs.edu/aelberse/publications/Elberse_Verleun_2012.pdf>.

Zafar, Qurat-Ul-Ain, and Mahira Rafique. "Impact of Celebrity Advertisement on Customers’ Brand Perception and Purchase Intention." Asian Journal of Business and Management Sciences 1.11 (n.d.): 53-67. Web. 8 Mar. 2016. <http://www.ajbms.org/articlepdf/ajbms201211i11104.pdf>.

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