Pricey report says celebs are the least trusted of all company spokespersons but they’re still being paid millions of dollars for their endorsements.
A new case study of celebrity advertising is likely to stir new interest in what has become a major gambling business—risking your reputation on a television, movie, music or sports star. The report is called "Cult of Celebrity."
In its promotion of the report, the publisher says celebrities are "the least trusted of all company/brand spokespersons." That would seem to carry more than adequate warning to avoid them, but the report adds that the celebrities still draw millions of dollars for lending their names to products.
According to the publisher, the "Cult of Celebrity" provides "strategic conclusions and actionable recommendations on effectively harnesssing the power of celebrity endorsement and branding." In other words, you can’t trust them but here’s how to hire them.
Special reports on celebrity advertising have been around almost as long as celebrities have, pointing to the attention that celebrities like Tiger Woods can command, to the risks of associating a brand with them and to difficulty of predicting and measuring return on investment.
At $2,250, the PDF report by DataMonitor is itself something of a gamble. But then that’s peanuts when you’re dealing with the big bucks that celebrities negotiate these days.
