Ladies and Gentlefolk, I am back - and I bring with me the awesome power of internet access!
As I mentioned earlier, my hiatus was caused by our moving house and temporary loss of internet. In the downtime, I rediscovered television. There sure are a lot of interesting documentaries on television, yessiree.
But there's also a lot of advertising, the majority of which seems stupid and mindless to me.
Don't get me wrong - I love advertising... when it's well done. When it's clever, memorable and it gets the point across. One that springs to mind is a print ad for Classic chocolate milk that I've seen in the busways. It's a big picture of a carton of chocolate milk and all it reads is "It's good. Buy it". Underneath the image is a bit of text advertising the 'classic' milk, indicating that it is simple, reliable and there's no beating-around-the-bush.
It makes me grin every time I see it. It's refreshingly blunt. It doesn't hide behind a face or a notion of some lifestyle choice.
In amongst the myriad of advertising that I'm exposed to daily through television, posters, internet and packing, I've noticed an increasing amount of celebrity-endorsed products. Not the usual Kirstie-Alley-used-this-and-lost-heaps-of-weight endorsement. I'm talking about the George Clooney Nespresso ads, the Benico Del Toro Heaven ice-cream ads, the Hugh Jackman Liption iced tea ads.
It all just seems a bit much. I understand the underlying idea here - a person (the celebrity) that many people look up to (the public) says that this product is awesome. The public trust this celebrity, rush out and buy the product and everyone is happy.
Some of the ads are funny, some are ridiculous, some are good-natured but to me they all seem just so... stupid. I can't think of a better word. Why do they think I'm going to buy a Nespresso coffee machine just because George Clooney buys one?
Why does Lipton think that just because I think Hugh Jackman is a pretty cool guy I will mindlessly believe him when he tells me to drink their iced tea?
Do they think we don't all
know that these celebrities are being paid big bucks to attach their pretty faces to a brand? In an article on
The Punch, discussing celebrity tweeting and the effect it has had on how fans relate to celebrities, it mentions that celebrities like Kim Kardashian are paid to mention products in their tweets - she receives upwards of $10,000 to mention Nestle in a tweet.
While I've never pictured Kim as the pillar of honourable values, wouldn't her fans notice the stark difference between her usual dribble and then the blatant endorsement of a seemingly unrelated brand? What does Nestle have to do with her anyway? On what level are they related? Why aren't Kim's minions branding her a sell-out?
What am I saying here... she's a reality-tv star... Maybe Kim Kardashian is a bad example.
The celebrity-sponsored trend is nothing new. Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and James Dean all endorsed products in their lifetime. Marketing has long relied on the celebrity-idolism to sell products. Gosh, maybe if I buy Revlon's products, my skin will look as nice as Halle Berry's does!
Of course, there are times when celebrity sponsorship can be a good thing. Charities and the like benefit greatly from the extra exposure a celebrity can give them.
In general though, I find that these ads are almost offensively stupid. Do marketing agencies really think that I will be impressed by Benico Del Toro pimping for Heaven ice-cream? Am I the only one who gets pissed off about this? Do the public really buy into this sort of bullshit?
What do you think about celebrity-endorsed products?
Glitter & Gunpowder,
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