In the wake of Lance Armstrong’s public fall from grace, we gathered to chat about the use of celebrity spokespersons. Here’s a peek at the conversation:
Accessibility of celebrity culture plays a role.
John: It seems to me like everyone looks up to celebrities more than ever. Why is that?
Amanda: They’re more everywhere than they’ve ever been before. There’s so much more media than in other generations. It’s everywhere. Now you can follow your favorite celebrities on social media to see what interests them.
Darby: I agree. Accessibility is a huge part of it. When the Beatles were popular, you could buy their record and you could go see their concert. And I had their poster at home, but that was about it. That has changed exponentially. In terms of looking at the way celebrities endorse products, it’s almost the price of entry for a product to have a celebrity endorsement.
Pam: Now you get to hear more of their thoughts and opinions – what they love and what they don’t love. You’re seeing more and more of their world and what they like, and I think people enjoy that because they want to be like them. You also see a lot of celebrities becoming experts: Jessica Alba with safe baby products and Gwyneth Paltrow with her own blog. (more…)