Celebrity Endorsements: Good or Bad for Marketing? The use of celebrities to promote a product or company is a popular marketing strategy, among other strategies such as WOM (word of mouth), advertising, promotion, and publicity. On average, research has shown that sales increase about 4% after signing a celebrity to endorse a company or product. Although celebrity endorsements do not always produce positive effects, researchers have conducted studies in which they have compared the effects of having an ordinary individual appear in an ad versus a celebrity endorsement, and found an increase on product sales when including the imagery of a celebrity. As a celebrity in the music industry, you have not reached ultimate star status until you’ve received an endorsement.
Take for example Michael Jordan: he no longer plays basketball, but still maintains an immense amount of fans due to the Nike Jordan collaborative brand. This shoe brand cultivated one of the most lucrative campaign endorsed by an athlete, in which Jordan dominated 10. 8% of the entire United States shoe market. Companies now have to pay over $10 million dollars just to use his face. Unfortunately, not all celebrity endorsements follow Jordan’s success; just as quickly as celebrities can seal a deal with a company, they can also lose the deal. Rick Ross – Deeper than Rap, August 2012 | Source: airvibeznigeriaA celebrity’s reputation can go from prestige to condemned in a matter of minutes due to high speed Internet and social media platforms. Many companies had to break ties with successful rap artists who they paid to endorse their merchandise due to objectionable lyrics or scandals they involved themselves in.
Rap artist Rick Ross lost between $3. 3 to 5 million in 2013 when he was dropped by Reebok due to his lyrics insinuating rape in his hit song, “ U. O. E. N.
O.”. These lyrics caused Ross to face terrible press, criticisms on all forms of social media, and a protest outside of New York’s Reebok store. Within the same week, rap artist Lil Wayne was dropped from his deal with PepsiCo’s Mountain Dew, when his lyrics mentioned a boy named Emmett Till in a profane manner.
Emmett Till was a young, African American boy who was brutally murdered during the civil rights era; his relatives protested against Lil Wayne, and he ultimately lost his endorsement. Lil Wayne at Lakers Game, June 2011 Source: sportiqeBrands such as these view social media as the most efficient way of reaching buyers, particularly younger demographics since they spend most of their time on social media platforms. It seems that companies are willing to give in to the power and commerciality of hip hop and rap artists, insofar as their profitability outweighs their questionable values. Many corporations take very high risks when endorsing popular celebrities. One small objectionable lyric can lead to their company facing reputation damage and crisis communication due to the accessibility of social media. Although celebrity endorsement may bring corporations high revenue for a product, it is important to think about the long term effects of making such a marketing decision