Celebrity Advertisement Are Misleading Indian Consumer

IDENTIFY THE FOLLOWING ?

A sign of celebrity is that his name is often worth more than his services.

- Daniel J Boorstin

• The motive behind total branding may be decocted as an attempt to amalgamate diverse activities to win customer preference.

• Apropos to this context, the topic

“Celebrity advertisement is misleading Indian consumer”, is a significant one.

• Marketers overtly acknowledge the power of celebrities in influencing consumer – purchasing decisions.

• Accepted fact that celebrity endorsement can bestow special attribute upon a product that it may have lacked otherwise.

"Any brand can get a celebrity. That is easy. But getting a celebrity consistent with the right brand, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way... that is not easy."

Aristotle said, “Beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of introduction.”

THE AIRTEL & IDEA WAY

THE HUTCH (Vodafone) WAY

Celebrity Endorsement in India{History}

Phase 1: The Pioneering Phase (1950-1980)This phase was characterized by: -1. Limited channels of communication2. Demand exceeded supply3. Heavy regulation and governmental regulationsSome bigger companies from their global experience introduced the concept of celebrity endorsement. HLL has used Hindi film stars to endorse their beauty soap Lux since fifties.

Phase 2: The Growth Phase (1980-1990)The introduction of television added a variable effective medium of communication. Indian stars going global with events like Asiads and World Cup victory. Vimal, Thums-Up, Gwalior and Dinesh are some of the other brands that used star-appeal in the early days of mass advertising. There was a spurt of advertising, featuring stars like Tabassum (Prestige Pressure-cooker), Kapil Dev (Palmolive Shaving Cream) and Sunil Gavaskar (Dinesh Suitings).

Phase 3: GlobalisationIn highly competitive markets, the following realities about brand management exist: -

1. Product differentiating factors are duplicable and imitable.

2. All long existing and successful brands imbue their products with a meaning.

MULTIPLIER EFFECT FORMULA:

S=P* D*AV -- the multiplier effect

S is a Successful Brand

P is an Effective Product

D is Distinctive Identity

AV is Added Values

Celebrity impact is to bestow identity and provide AV to the brand.

What is a Brand?

“a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify goods or services of one seller or a group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitor”.

DEFINITION OF CELEBRITIES

Celebrities are people who enjoy specific public recognition by a large number of certain groups of people. They have some characteristic attributes like attractiveness, extraordinary lifestyle or special skills that are not commonly observed. Thus, it can be said that within a society, celebrities generally differ from the common people and enjoy a high degree of public awareness.

Actors (e.g., Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Preity Zinta, Aamir Khan and Pierce Brosnan).

Models (e.g., Malaika Arora, Milind Soman, Naomi Campbell, , etc),

Television Personalities (Hussain, Smriti Irani)

Sports figures (e.g., Sachin Tendulkar, Sania Mirza, Anna Kournikova, Michael Schumacher, Tiger Woods, etc)

Entertainers (e.g., Cyrus Broacha, Oprah Winfrey,)

Pop-stars (e.g., Madonna, Shakira) Businessmen (e.g., Vijay Mallya, Bill

Gates) Politicians. (e.g., Atal Bihari Vajpayee ,

Sonia Gandhi)

Brand Ambassador & Brand Face

A Brand Ambassador would be one who is an integral part of the brand which goes beyond just appearing on TV commercials.

For example, Fardeen Khan is the brand ambassador for Provogue

Face would be the current celebrity appearing in the advertisement

An example would be Sona Chandi Chawanpryash using Sourav Ganguly

IMPACT OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

THE PROCESS OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

Figure 1: The Meaning Transfer Model

BEAUTY,ELEGENCE

CREDIBILITY,TRUSTWORTHINESS

CELEBRITY SELECTION

The TEARS Model Trustworthiness: For example - Legendary

actor Amitabh Bachchan who is an icon of trust; promoting ICICI Bank.

Expertise: For example - Golfer Tiger Woods for a sports brand.

Attractiveness: For example - Tennis player Anna Kournikova who earns 10 Million dollars per year in just endorsement.

Respect: For example - Former Miss World Aishawarya Rai and the Eye donation campaign.

Similarity: For example - a child artist promoting a chocolate brand.

KINDS OF CELEBRITY-HOOD - THEIR IMPACT ON BRANDS

Product Placements

While the movie 'Taal' brandished Coke bottles unabashedly

Celebrities Co-Owning the Brand

Madhuri Dixit and Emami 'Beauty secrets by Madhuri' range

Fictional Heroes Shaktimaan has

sold Parle-G, and Popeye single-handedly revived the consumption of spinach in the US.

No More but Celebrities Still

campaigns created around a dead personality was the 'Kar lo duniya muthi mein' campaign for Reliance featuring Dhirubhai Ambani

Page 3 Celebrities

Celebrities for a Cause

The Pulse Polio campaign being coordinated by UNICEF for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had Amitabh Bachchan and Sachin Tendulkar

Spoofing Mirinda spoofed

the Hutch puppy (a celebrity in its own right).

Mascots Ronald McDonald,

the Amul girl

Men are from Mars, Women from VenusJohn Abraham lends his rugged image to Yamaha bikes while Priety Zinta lends her cute dimples to peddle Scooty.

Celebrities Lending their Name to Brands Sharukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha have perfumes named after them

Company Owners Being CelebritiesVijay Mallaya and a Richard Branson who are walking talking celebrities and endorse their own brands through their extravagance, their flamboyant lifestyle

Political LeadersThe 'India Shining' campaign from the BJP and the 'Congress ka haath aam aadmi ke saath' campaign from the Congress with Vajpayee and Sonia Gandhi lending their faces

Using a Social Proposition Built Within the BrandThe Surf campaign done by Revathy and Shabana Azmi (in the south and north respectively) which stressed on the prudent usage of valuable water was a social proposition cleverly inter-woven in the brand.

Duration of Usage - Promotional or Long Term Strategyshort-term example is the Rani Mukherjee campaign for Bata which is believed to have helped boost sales for the ladie's footwear brand, Sundrop, by a whopping 500 per cent. The same Rani Mukherjee has a longer association with Fanta and Munch.

Stealth Advertising

public no longer believes that celebrities actually use the products Revlon launched an online marketing campaign targeting female customers via chat rooms talking about who Revlon's new face would be, Halle Berry

Foreign CelebritiesJackie Chan doing a Discover commercial or a Boris Becker doing a Siyaram commercial

Unintentional Celebrity Endorsements

the year before the late Princess Diana bought an Audi, they sold just about five hundred pieces in the UK. The following year sales figures were close to ten thousand markJohn Abraham haybusa

Why Companies Use Celebrities - The Celebrity Edge

Psychological Factorsa movie actress for beauty related products

Propping Up Awareness and Trust Levels: Rahul dravid for bank of baroda

To Communicate a Certain Message about the CompanySachin Tendulkar image for the launch of 'Victor'

Value for Money: To Position their Brand Distinctively Celebrity Standing for a Single Brand:

Zakir Hussain of 'Wah Taj' Taj Mahal tea & A. R. Rahman for Airtel

Advantages of a Celebrity Endorsing a Brand

Establishment of Credibility: Ensured Attention: PR Coverage: Higher Degree of Recall Associative Benefit: Mitigating a Tarnished Image Psychographic Connect Demographic Connect Mass Appeal: Rejuvenating a Stagnant Brand:

Factors Impacting a Brand while being viewed by a Consumer in Media

Certain parameters that postulate compatibility between the celebrity and brand

image are: -

Celebrity’s fit with the brand image Celebrity-Target Audience match Celebrity associated values Costs of acquiring the celebrity Celebrity-Product match Celebrity controversy risk Celebrity popularity Celebrity availability Celebrity physical attractiveness Celebrity credibility Celebrity prior endorsements Whether celebrity is a brand user Celebrity profession

Selection of Celebrity

Aspect of Brand

Image Celebrity Product

Attractiveness Stylish  FardeenKhan  

AmitabhBachhan

Provogue  

Reid & Taylor

Trustworthiness Reliable Sachin Tendulkar

TVS Victor

Expertise Knowledge Vishwanathan anand

NIIT

All That Glitters is Not Gold - The Flip Side of Using Celebrities

Overexposure of Brand Ambassadors: Amitabh Bachchan sells Nerolac paints, Cadbury chocolates, Pepsi, Parker pens, Dabur Hajmola, Sahara homes, Reid and Taylor suits, Navratan oil, ICICI home loans, the list goes on.

Brand Switching: For example when Aishwarya Rai and Aamir Khan shifted loyalties from Pepsi to Coke.

Tarnished Public Image: Thums up too had to scrap its ads after Salman Khan got embroiled in the black-buck case & took Akshay.

Creative Block: Eg. Palmolive had strong associations with Kapil Dev and the line 'Palmolive ka jawaab nahi'. After Kapil Dev retired it could never come up with an equally memorable campaign.

Reel Not Equal to Real: Britney Spears who are Pepsi endorsers have been spotted drinking Coke.

High Ad Costs Success of Brand Dependant on Success of

Celebrity: Eg: Sachin's ad being shown after his wicket falls draws negative impressions about the brand.

Celebrities Overshadowing Brands:Dinesh Suitings, where Sunil Gavaskar, the brand spokesperson, was allowed to rule the brand, thus becoming bigger than it. Once the association ceased, the brand lost its identity.

Company Wars Through Celebrities: Pepsi's Sharukh Khan taking a dig at Hritik Roshan who endorsed Coke.

Incongruity Between Brand and Celebrity Samsung sponsoring the Indian cricket team has no congruence and brand connect.

Irresponsible Advertising Fardeen for pan masala & ajay for bagpiper

stunt ads

Multiple Brand Endorsement

As many as four products negatively influences the celebrity credibility and likeability

Sachin Tendulkar, for example, in 2002 endorsed 12 brands (including Pepsi, Boost, Colgate Total, Gillette, Britannia Tiger, Fiat Palio, TVS Victor, Fiat Sienna, MRF, Adidas, Visa Cards and Home Trade), ESPN-STAR Sports (the television channel), AirTel has just signed him on as its brand ambassador.

ONE BRAND MANY CELEBRITY

SINGLE BRAND ASSOCIATION OF A

CELEBRITY

ZAKIR HUSSAIN Product: Taj Mahal tea -- Slogan: Wah! Taj

Ustad Zakir Hussain's association with Taj Mahal tea, the premium brand from Hindustan Lever, is over a decade old.

Zakir Hussain's association with the brand has made Taj Mahal tea it a household name.

A R RAHMAN Product: Airtel -- Slogan: Live every moment

Cellular service provider Airtel roped in the 'Mozart of the East' Allah Rakha Rahman for its TV ad campaign in August 2002.

It was for the first time ever that Rahman associated himself with any brand anywhere in the world. In the Airtel ad Rahman composed an original score and five ring tones exclusively for Airtel customers.

Vishwanathan Anand

Product: NIIT Ad Agency: Contract Grandmaster

Vishwanathan Anand is said to have refused more than one contract because he cannot concentrate on giving the sponsor his best and win his chess games at the same time.

Misleading advertisements and Identifying the problem:

False Advertising –Advertising using statements in the form of unverified facts.

Deceptive Advertising – Advertising that is used to mislead consumers using implied false claims.

False Advertising

Passing off goods or services as something they are not.

Blatant lies and deliberately untrue statements

Used to prevent the buyer from acting reasonably.

Deceptive Advertising

Misleading claims1. Explicitly stated2. Implied verbally or visually

Omissions of the truth

Camel Cigarettes

Advertising campaign named “Pleasure to Burn”

Sexually inviting image of a female.

Implies that a Camel cigarette is the key to developing an intimate relationship with picture women.

LUCKY STRIKE Cigarettes

This ad directly appeals to young females.

Shows a young women standing up for her self.

Message to teenage girls, is that “Smoking is a gutsy act of establishing independence”

Likewise few other ads are:

In all these ads no where is tells about the side effect of smoking cigarette or its adverse effect.

Deodorant ads depiction

• DEPICTING THAT ITS USAGE ATTRACTS THE OPPOSITE SEX.

• YOU GET A BOOST IN YOUR CONFIDENCE

Soft drink Ads depiction

Slogans like “Aaj kuch toofani karte hain, open happiness, weekend aye masti chaeye, Maan ki pyas bhujaey etc” actuallyhave nothing to offer except calories

Zandu Balm

Used to say “Provide immediate relief of headaches”

Is it for minor headache or major ones.

Unfinished Claims

When these claims are made, they might often leave you asking yourself questions about it.

“Be the first to know” –CNN advertisement slogan.

The first to know what?!

Uniqueness Claims

These claims advertised the difference of the product amongst others, but this does not necessarily mean that the product is better than the rest.

•“Nothing is better than Anadin” -Anadin Advertisement Slogan.

Stating Facts

This basically claims nothing and shows no real advantage over any other product.

“Bagpiper soda, Royal stag music cds ads are ways to attract customers to adopt the brand.

“So What” Claims These claims are almost like making factual statements,

but it claims things that competing claims do not make or offer more of something in order to exceed the consumers normal expectations.

Tropicana has orange juices that now have extra calcium Do you really need more calcium than what is already

provided in orange juice?

Vague Claims

A vague claim states things that are unclear, and not able to be verified.

“The best man can get” – Gillette advertisement slogan.

There is no way to verify this!!!

Testimonial Claims A lot of companies will use famous people

to advertise their product hoping to get consumers to buy the product and to believe the claim is based on being a celebrities fan.

“You too can have a body like mine” – Charles Atlas advertisement slogan.

Questionable Statistics Using claims that have not been verified. On the Centrum Website we find “Higher levels* of

Vitamins B6 and B12 to support health” Then at the bottom of the page : “*These statements

have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.”

They put this on the bottom of the page knowing that some consumers will not bother to go that far down on the page after skimming at the information that is given.

Smarter Consumer Claims

Making the person think that they are better for choosing whatever is being claimed.

“Choosy moms choose Bournvita” "The best tires in the world have

Goodyear written all over them.“ -Goodyear tires advertising slogan.

CONCLUSION There is a gradual shift from the

traditional approach of showing celebrities in advertisement to making them the “spokes-person” of the brand.

Celebrity endorsements do work in the Indian scenario.

The consumer treat celebrities as GOD and accept every thing they showcase without looking at the worthiness or usage of the product.

Multiple endorsements do clutter the minds of the consumer.

The End