Now-a-days firms spend millions of dollars to sign up celebrities to endorse their products. Some popular endorsers such as Amithab Bachan, Ashwarya Rai Bachan   earn as much as $40 million a year from endorsements alone. Endorsement contracts are now so lucrative that many professionals in sports and entertainment direct their careers to this end. In some sports, such as track and field events, winning at the Olympics has pretty much become a means to subsequent endorsement contracts .
The term Celebrity refers to an individual who is known to the public (actor, sports figure, entertainer, etc.) for his or her achievements in areas other than that of the product class endorsed. Firms spend all this money on endorsements because finding the right celebrity endorser for their products can pay tremendous dividends. Celebrity endorsers have a powerful means of communicating a distinct image for the advertiser. Other types of endorsers can be equally effective but cost much less.
Endorsement is a channel of brand communication in which a celebrity acts as the brand’s spokesperson and certifies the brand’s claim and position by extending his/her personality, popularity, stature in the society or expertise in the field to the brand. In a market with a very high proliferation of local, regional and international brands, celebrity endorsement was thought to provide a distinct differentiation. On the other hand, self-enhancers will be more likely to reject brand associations created by a celebrity endorsement where the celebrity associations are rejected (i.e., a non-aspirational celebrity), compared to consumers who do not have active self enhancement goals. Companies invest large sums of money to align their brands and themselves with endorsers. Such endorsers are seen as dynamic with both attractive and likeable qualities and companies plan that these qualities are transferred to products marcom activities. Furthermore, because of their fame, celebrities serve not only to create and maintain attention but also to achieve high recall rates for marcom messages in today’s highly cluttered environments. Some brands can reject celebrity endorsement outright and emerge in a better off position than their rivals. There are hundreds of well-known examples of celebrity endorsements, most of which were hugely successful due to proper endorsement strategy In recent times, we had the Indian cine star Shahrukh Khan – Hyundai Santro campaign with the objective of mitigating the impediment that an unknown Korean brand faced in the Indian market. Think of great cricket star Sachin Tendulkar. He means Pepsi in soft drinks, Boost in malted beverages, MRF in tyres, Fiat Palio in cars, TVS Victor in two-wheelers, Colgate Total in toothpastes, Britannia in biscuits, Visa in credit cards, Airtel in mobile services and Band-aid.
Consumer Buying Behaviour reflecting an emphasis on the interaction between consumer and producers at the time of purchase. Most Marketers now recognise target consumer behaviour is in fact an on-going process, not merely what happens at the moment a consumer hands over money or a credit card in turn receive some goods or service. Towel-clad models can sell just about anything. Soaps shampoos, body lotions,  safety razors, electric hair removers, men’s toiletry even ceramic tiles and bathroom fittings. And if the model happens to be a television icon that enjoys a huge fan following among youngsters, the product will sell like hot cakes.
When Bollywood heartthrob Ravena Tandan featured in the ad for Rotomac pens some years ago, many people wondered whether it was a good idea to hire such a high-priced model. But the strategy paid off and Rotomac today is a name to reckon with in the writing instruments industry. Using celebrities to peddle wares is not new for the Rs. 5,000 crore Indian advertising industries. After all, it’s easier to influence people if a celebrity is endorsing the product. Says Siddiqui, model coordinator, Ammirati Puris Lintas: “The strategy helps because a celebrity is instantly recognizable and brand recognition becomes easy”.
Many companies realize that the bigger the celebrity the better is the impact. Instead of hiring smaller models at a lower price, they prefer to splurge on high-paid models. Signing Shah Rukh Khan over Milind Soman makes better business sense, they feel. For instance, when the Rajasthan-based textile manufacturer BSL Ltd. found that its sales graph was not moving upwards, it decided to sign up model-turned-actress Sonali Bendre. “Our previous campaigns lacked glamour. Now that short-coming has been set right.” Says BSL Marketing Manager R.P. Jhanwar. The company is confident that the campaign will be able to boost sales during the oncoming festive season. Thus Celebrity sources may enhance attitude change for a variety of reasons. They may attract more attention to the advertisement than would non-celebrities or in many cases, they may be viewed as more credible than non-celebrities. And consumers may identify with or desire to emulate the celebrity. Finally, consumer may associate known characteristics of the celebrity with attributes of the product that coincide with their own needs or desire.

Author is Doctoral Research Scholar,  Pondicherry University.
Reach him at  irfan.shafi123@gmail.com

Lastupdate on : Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:00 IST