Billions of dollars are spent every year on celebrity endorsement. Theory and practice prove that the use of superstars in advertising attracts lots of attention from the public. The underlying question is, how companies promote their brand and consequently increase their revenues, and also how revenue can effectively be used in the lively interest of the public in `the rich and famous'. As a first step to answer this question, this article will examine the relationship between celebrity endorsements and brands, by applying a selection of widely accepted principles of how consumers' brand attitudes and preferences can be positively influenced.
Celebrities are people who enjoy a large share of public recognition. Where attributes such as attractiveness, extraordinary lifestyle or special skills are just examples and specific common characteristics cannot be observed, it can be said that within a corresponding social group celebrities generally differ from the social norms and enjoy a high degree of public awareness. This is true for classic forms of celebrities such as actors Rani Mukherji and Shah Rukh Khan, sports people such as Sania Mirza and Sachin Tendulkar and pop stars such as Madonna and Michael Jackson.
If we take the example of Shah Rukh Khan, he endorses a lot of brands across different categories even as he is busy with his film shootings. It is a actual brand car, Santro, that he endorses. Apart from this Pepsi, Lux, DLF, Compaq, Videocon, Navratan Hair Oil, ITC Sunfeast, Pulse Polio, Airtel, ICICI, Tag Heguer watches, to name a few. Not only do celebrities endorse many products but a brand name such as the Tatas also use many celebrities. |
