Celebrity Endorsements: Evolutionary By-product?

The Financial Times recently carried an interesting story about the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. The story wasn’t about the movies on show, but about the stars of those movies. It wasn’t about the acting ability of those stars either, but their saleability.

Big names associated with luxury goods, such as Chopard jewellers of Geneva, are said to have developed “a masterclass of celebrity endorsement” at Cannes. They set up exclusive invite-only events for the biggest stars, and dole out their jewelry specifically so those stars can be photographed wearing their pieces on the red carpet.

Among the list of those who toed the line this year were such stellar names as Robert De Niro, Jude Law and Uma Thurman.

“Images are sent out within hours of stars hitting the red carpet, while the sales force take high-end clients to the film festival to show Chopard’s new creations and give them the Chopard experience,” said one spokesperson.

It was reported that a certain pair of emerald earrings from Chopard’s Red Carpet 2011 collection were sold to a customer within moments of Uma Thurman appearing with them hanging from her lobes. Similarly we are told of Angelina Jolie’s selling power, she being the face of the Style of Jolie collection by jeweler Robert Procop. She has modeled Procop’s pieces at various premieres including that for the children’s movie Kung Fu Panda 2.

Of course all of this won’t come as too much of a surprise to many of you. Celebrity endorsed products have become an accepted part of the culture over the past few decades – even Justin Beiber has his own fragrance for God’s sake. But isn’t it all a bit cynical, even a little sinister perhaps?

Well, no, not really. What’s the moral difference between a celebrity advertising a product and a multi-million dollar marketing campaign that is similarly persuasive but features no familiar faces? Both are equally acceptable or unacceptable, depending on your perspective.

However, one important point to take away from this is that, on some level or another, you are being manipulated. If you are aware of this and continue to buy endorsed products, then we say fine, go ahead. But for those of you who blindly follow what the hottest stars are wearing, you should at least give this fact some thought, and see if you are making properly informed choices.

The idea behind celebrity endorsements is that they sell a lifestyle – people believe that they can somehow attain an element of the glamor and success of their favorite celebrity if they wear what they wear, drive what they drive, drink what they drink. Of course, rational thinking should tell us that this is a complete fallacy, but unfortunately rational thinking doesn’t always work as it should.

For instance, athletes –  another group of celebrities who regularly endorse things – have been shown to drive up sales of the products they put their names to by an average of 4 percent in a recent study. And the more successful the athlete, the greater the sales bump.

Another study by the Journal of Consumer Research, seeking to explain why we are so susceptible to this seemingly obvious marketing ploy, found that “we seem to have an inborn belief that objects can impart the “essence” of those who have handled them or owned them before us.” Apparently this is an evolutionary by-product, because way back when we were still living in caves it made sense to use things that others had already proven were safe and successful.
So there we have it folks, scientific proof that we are hardwired to fall hook line and sinker for a celebrity endorsed product over a regular one, even if they’re practically the same. Just be aware of this next time you get the urge to buy that new dress because you saw it on Natalie Portman, or that new face cream because Jennifer Love Hewitt says it’s great, or… well you get the idea!

Image Credit: AP

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Posted by Bindra at 02:26 AM
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