Celebrity Endorsements? Consumers Say They Don't Buy It

Consumers report that celebrity endorsements are an ineffective way to

induce them to buy, well, anything. So, why do companies shell out millions for famous faces?

Companies are not entirely stupid. Experience has taught them that to break through the marketing clutter, they need to attract attention. Celebrities, particularly athletes, movie and music stars, do that quite well, usually without really trying. The assumption is that they bring a certain amount of crossover interest to whatever product they are endorsing, whether they are perceived to know anything about it or not.

What has changed is consumers relationship with brands and products. The first instinct of the connected in this era is to google the item in question to get more information. Consumers are better informed than they were a generation ago. They have also developed deeper affinities - or dislikes - based on that information and on a host of values relation to how they feel about themselves that were largely absent in the pre-internet (let alone Wonderbread) era. So, the study may reflect two developments: a more educated consumer whose sense of self rebels at the notion that a pretty face or yummy torso impels them to do anything - and a sense that in the two-working-parents or couple family, no one has time or money enough to follow the advice of someone who they know is being paid to tout whatever it is.

Before we dismiss celebrities out of hand, however, the advent of social media marketing may change perceptions and behavior. If the network is really going to be the channel of the future (and we have our doubts about this), then a celebrity who gets his or her nose inside the proverbial tent by credibly establishing affinity, may find a rejuvenated public ready to embrace their recommendations. Circle the wagons. JL

Mark Miller reports in Brand Channel:

"Angelina Jolie was paid untold millions as the new face of Louis Vuitton, above. LeBron James signed a $90 million deal with Nike when he was still in high school. Rapper 50 Cent negotiated a executive office with Vitamin Water and raked in tens of millions of dollars upon endorsing it. Catherine Zeta-Jones got paid $20 million to endorse T-Mobile (and that was before her contract extension and raise).

Everywhere you turn people who play doctors on TV and every other celebrity you can name are telling us what to buy and where to buy it. However, a new study from Adweek/Harris Interactive shows that consumers don’t give a rip if a celebrity is telling them to buy a product or not.

“When a product or service is endorsed by a celebrity, more than three-quarters answered that it has no impact on their intent to buy,” Adweek reports. “Just 4 percent said it makes them more likely to purchase.”

And when consumers get up to retirement age, celebrity endorsements can actually work against a product, according to the poll. For those 55 and older, 19% noted that a celebrity endorsement might cause them to not buy a particular brand.

It all raises the question of why brands shell out millions of dollars for celeb endorsements if Joe and Jane Consumer aren't buying it.

[image - Louis Vuitton via WWD]