How Celebrities Impact Marketing Adverts 

It's one thing to have a killer marketing campaign that can attract customers to the brand and services, but you don't need Einstein to tell you that it would be even more beneficial for a brand to include a celebrity in their campaigns. Why? First of all, customers are more likely to purchase something or invest in a brand if they see a celebrity using their product. And this doesn't just have to be in an advert but this could also be via social media. Second of all, companies using celebrities increases brand awareness and allows the brand to become more known to people. Third of all, and this ties in similarly to the second point, the brand will instantly become more popular because of the use of celebrities. Thus the brand will have a competitive advantage over their rivals. 

 

Social Media Week reported that brands can welcome a four percent increase in sales when celebrities are featured in adverts. Don't believe me? Let's take the famous sportswear brand Nike and throw it back to 1984 where they would find success through their Air Jordan campaign. A memorable year for Air Jordan was 2009 where they ruled the basketball shoe scene accounting for 75% of sales as well as accounting for 10.8 of total shoe sales in the US. Another famous celebrity who has been dubbed 'the face' of the brand is George Clooney and Nespresso. This has certainly boosted the brand's reputation as well as the Oscar winners earnings who has racked up a whopping $40 million. 

With that being said, there has been times that adverts containing celebrities has proven to be disastrous for the brand. One of the most famous examples of this is the Pepsi advert which featured Kendall Jenner. The premise of the advert is a Black Lives Matter protest and Kendall Jenner hands the police officer a Pepsi can and everybody cheers. People criticized the advert for being tone death towards the movement where protesters have endured dangers from them. Pepsi had to issue an apology as well as Kendall Jenner speaking about it as she endured some backlash too. However, since this incident both Pepsi and Jenner have still seen success.  

One thing that will stay the same in Marketing is adverts containing celebrities because most of the time they prove to be successful. It is all about knowing what celebrities the audience will react well with and what celebrities are suitable for the adverts. 

By Lydia Ferzoli

References: 

1. Hashaw, H. (2019). The Effect of Celebrities in Advertisements. [online] Chron.com. Available at: The Effect of Celebrities in Advertisements (chron.com)
2. Victor, D. (2017). Pepsi Pulls Ad Accused of Trivializing Black Lives Matter. The New York Times. [online] 5 Apr. Available at: Pepsi Pulls Ad Accused of Trivializing Black Lives Matter - The New York Times (nytimes.com) [Accessed 8 Dec. 2022]. 
3. George Clooney Picture: Hodal, K. (2020). George Clooney ‘saddened’ by alleged child labour on Nespresso coffee farms. The Guardian. [online] 26 Feb. Available at: George Clooney 'saddened' by alleged child labour on Nespresso coffee farms | Global development | The Guardian
4. Kendall Jenner Picture: D’Addario, D. (2017). Why the Kendall Jenner Pepsi Ad Was Such a Glaring Misstep. [online] Time. Available at: Kendall Jenner Pepsi Ad: Why It's a Glaring Misstep | Time