Film actors, sport stars and other celebrities are increasingly making their presence felt in politics. Do they make any difference? Or is their presence written off as a mere political gimmick? Neelika Arora shares her views.

It is election time and the Government of India's "India Shining" campaign has made enormous noise in the media. It is difficult to say whether India is shining or not, but one thing is certain that the political parties are shining with an array of stars in the political galaxies. Today political parties are glittering with star celebrities. Whether they are film celebrities like Hema Malini, Vijayashanti, Suresh Oberoi, Govinda or sports celebrities like Navjot Singh Sidhu or Kris Srikanth, election 2004 has exposed us to an immense glitz of celebrities endorsing political parties and their ideologies. This trend though in full swing this time around, is not new. Celebrities have always been an integral part of political marketing in India and the world over. The likes of NTR in Andhra Pradesh, Jayalalitha, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Shatrugan Sinha, Vinod Khanna and Sunil Dutt from Bollywood are the success stories of celebrities in the political arena.

Marketing has always been applied to politics. Experts in the area of political marketing equate politicians to consumer goods and services. Come election time and these politicians and their respective political parties apply the best of marketing strategies and plan their promotional campaigns to gain the maximum voter share. If political campaigns can be equated to marketing campaigns, why can't political campaigns use celebrity endorsement, which is so popular in the marke+ting of goods and services? In marketing literature, it has been well proved that celebrity endorsements helps the brand to enhance their respective images and thereby, brand equity.

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