How consumers respond to celebrity endorsements gone wrong

Celebrity endorsements do nothing for me. I can see some logic though; Tiger Woods is promoting Nike golf equipment, so it must be good. In a discussion on Marketing Profs about the use of superstars in advertising, one response states that “Celebrity endorsements can be quite effective. The key is finding the right celebrity and communicating the right message in the advertising.” Okay, so how exactly can brands find the right celeb?

According to an article from the New York Times, Sarah Jessica Parker turned out to be the wrong celebrity for the Gap. Allegedly, her association with high-fashion didn’t align with Gap’s image. This resulted in a decline in sales for the retail store. Although a high-fashion image isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it was bad for the Gap. So what happens to brands that end up with lawbreakers representing their products?

Time will tell, because in the last month alone Michael Phelps and Chris Brown lost endorsement deals due to criminal behavior. There have been plenty of discussions about these news stories already. What I’d like to know is how this affects customers. I assumed that these situations would not affect sales. On second thought, as seen with Gap, it is clear that the wrong spokesperson can potentially cause a major drop in sales. On the flip side, a company’s decision to can an endorsement deal can backfire as well. Since throwing out the agreement with Phelps, upset consumers are petitioning and boycotting Kellogg products. This means trouble for the company, since over 5,000 people have now agreed to not purchase from Kellogg.

I see how celebrities can be both good and bad for advertising. People care about what they do, and they especially care when they screw up. My question for brand managers: is it really worth risking the overall integrity of your company (or worse, your loyal customers) by having famous people endorse your products? In my opinion, there are much better ways of building loyal customers that do not involve paying high-profile people to attract them. Lately, celebrities seem to be hurting companies much more than they are helping them. Why not focus on mobilizing existing customers to spread the word about your products? Something tells me that would be much more effective.

-Liz Giel

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