Tiger Woods, Madonna, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Hudson , Michael Phelps, SHE , Jeanett Aw, Zoe Tay and even bloggers like Xia Xue. What do they have in common? All of them have been appointed by various companies as official spokespersons. Some celebrities like Bono or Angelina Jolie are in it to create awareness for a charitable cause, whilst some celebs ( I shall not name who) are in it for that fat paycheck. Part of the perks of being somebody famous is that they are often approached to endorse brands or products, often then not if a product/brand endorse by a celeb gets hit by a civil suit. The celeb involved is abstain from any legal troubles however an article by Channel News Asia reported that in China that they are strengthening advertising laws. Once the new legislation is passed, China will hold celebrity spokesperson accountable legally if the brand/product they endorse is embroiled in a civil suit.
We all know that the use of celebrities or well-known figures for product endorsement is one of the most well-used and popular marketing tools used by marketers and companies globally. It is indeed a great way to generate buzz about the brand or a specific product. It even more so in developing countries like China and India.
Some companies had great commercial branding success through the engagement of celebs.
Probably one of the best known and successful company will be Nike and their collaboration with Michael Jordan for Air Jordan.
That is a successful celeb endorsement that worked great for Nike. However, there are plenty of celeb spokesperson fiasco that can be read here: Top Celebrity Spokesperson Fiascos . Such fiascoes occurs because the celeb made a bad move that was captured by the media (eg. Michael Phelps smoking pot) or the product that the celeb is endorsing is exposed to negative news(eg. SK-II found to contain heavy metals) . Either way, a bad pairing of celeb to brand/product is disastrous for both parties.
This brings up our main issue what are the implications these new legislation brings to the celebs and marketing agencies whom engage celebs to endorse products for their clients ?
Personally, the implications can be discuss from the celeb and marketing agencies’ perspectives.
From the celeb’s perspective is much simpler, the implications will be:
A) Definitely be real careful about what they approve to endorse
B) Ensure that in the endorsement contract it states that they are abstain from being legally liable if product/brands gets into legal issues
C) Get a even bigger paycheck to cover the possibility of getting sued
From the marketer’s point of view:
A) More money spent to get celeb onboard for endorsement
B) Overall, marketing companies using celeb spokesperson have to do more to protect the brand/product and the celeb from negative media coverage
These are my views. Do leave a comment if anyone agrees or has other opinions to this.
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