Companies pay celebrities gobs of money to endorse products.
Apparently a celebrity’s saying, “I use this product, you should too,” influences our purchasing patterns – or else the companies behind the products wouldn’t be shelling out the big bucks.
Many a time the celebrity providing the endorsement doesn’t even like or use the product. They’re just saying what it takes to get the paycheck.
Do you believe everyone whose picture has appeared on a box of Wheaties eats that cereal?
I don’t begrudge celebrities for taking endorsement checks. They’re entitled to make money just like the rest of us. Sometimes they need the money. Those of us of a certain age remember Joe DiMaggio – arguably the greatest baseball player ever – appearing in Mr. Coffee commercials on television.
DiMaggio’s playing career ended a quarter-century before baseball was forced to accept free agency. In DiMaggio’s day, you reached a contract with your original team, or with a team you were traded to, or else you didn’t play anywhere.
It made sense for old-timers like DiMaggio, who never earned much during their careers, to endorse products. But what about today’s well-paid athletes? Why do they endorse? They might not need it, but they welcome the money.
Endorsement deals can backfire on a company. Today’s celebrity can become tomorrow’s pariah.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was in the news this autumn for having avoided giving full, honest answers to questions about his vaccination status. Turns out Rodgers violated league and team protocol, such as when he continued to fly with his teammates.
He also made the headlines for certain dubious remarks concerning vaccines and remedies. If Rodgers was merely endorsing footballs, this might not have been a problem. But insurance companies and health clinics, for some unfathomable reason, had been paying Rodgers for his endorsement.
Because of Rodgers’ comments, a Wisconsin company called Prevea Health ended their endorsement deal with Rodgers. Insurance giant State Farm pulled the plug for a week or two on commercials containing Rodgers.
If there is anything in the background of Aaron Rodgers that makes him an expert on insurance, I wasn’t able to find it.
In the 1970s, O.J. Simpson, then a star running back in the NFL, contracted to endorse Hertz Rent-a-Car. The commercials featured O.J. sprinting through airports, hurdling clerks and baggage handlers.
My friend Greg said at the time, “Big deal. They ought to give him some real competition. Fill the airport with Jack Tatum and the rest of the Oakland Raiders defense and let them try to tackle O.J.”
Although we found the commercial entertaining, we couldn’t fathom why people renting a car would pick Hertz over its competitors simply because of this commercial.
In the 1980s, Air Jordan sneakers, endorsed by basketball star Michael Jordan, became desirable simply because his name was on them. It even led to the murder of kids who had the sneakers, by other kids who craved the sneakers but couldn’t afford them. Why did they crave the sneakers? Because Jordan’s name was on them. (And that’s also why they were priced so high.)
I don’t blame Jordan. Athletes should be allowed to endorse any equipment they use, including sneakers. But celebrity mania can make it dangerous.
The fault lies in ourselves, for we continue to worship celebrities so much that it is profitable for a company to pay big bucks for their endorsements.
Endorsements get trickier in tennis and golf. Endorsement deals for golfers and tennis players usually require the athlete to use the company’s products exclusively (meaning not to use any other company’s golf club, tennis racket, golf ball, or tennis ball) for the duration of the contract.
Some players, bedazzled by the endorsement, find later that their ball-striking is a tad different with the endorsed equipment, but are barred by contract from using the original equipment they found success with in the first place.
Golfers even endorse visors with a logo on the brim. Mind you, these golfers are successful enough that they could wear a cap trumpeting “Claremont Eagle-Times” or any other entity of their heart’s choosing. Or wear a blank cap. But no, every successful golfer sticks out a hand for an endorsement check for visors. They choose to be walking billboards.
Me, I can’t imagine making a purchasing decision based upon a celebrity endorsement.
When I got around to exploring insurance policies, I opted against using Metropolitan Life, even though at the time my favorite celebrity was a paid spokesman for the company. But the endorsement of Charlie Brown’s beagle Snoopy wasn’t enough to make me open my wallet.
I don’t condone endorsement deals. But since they’re all the rage … if any company out there will pay me to endorse any item I’m happy with – such as bananas, manual typewriters, or fountain pens – just write to me care of this newspaper.
Arthur Vidro is one of the Eagle Times’ recurring financial columnists.
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