Who Really Pays for Celebrity Endorsements?

A couple of weeks ago, the night of the Grammy’s to be exact, Dish Network put their competition, DirecTV, on blast. I hadn’t seen anything this good since the Pepsi Challenge.

I was actually leaving the room when the commercial came on, but stopped in my tracks to watch in its entirety. I’m not a satellite tv subscriber and have no intentions of becoming one, so their ads don’t appeal to me as a consumer.

What I am a fan of is good marketing, marketing that gets my attention and makes me do just what I’m doing now...generate buzz by talking about it and sharing it with you. (If you haven’t picked up Mark Hughes’ book Buzzmarketing, you’re missing out on a good read. And no – I don’t get paid for endorsing his book.) You know you’ve hit the marketing jackpot when The Associated Press writes about your campaign and ABC news picks up the story.

Let’s get back to the question at hand, “Who Really Pays for Celebrity Endorsements”?

According to Dish Network, DirecTV is passing this cost on to their customers. In the commercial, they say DirecTV customers pay approximately $175 more per year vs. Dish Network customers. I don’t know about you, but I believe it.

T-Mobile® has also added a few new celebrities to their list of paid endorsers. Whoopi Goldberg and Phil Jackson are proud myTouch™ owners. I’m a T-Mobile customer and can vouch for price increases. They introduced a new lower family plan rate, but customers have to pay to enroll in the program. Are you serious? I’m already a customer and didn’t have to pay to get the plan I’m on now. When speaking with a supervisor about the issue, I was actually told that they’re a company and they have to make money. I get it. I’m an entrepreneur and I have to make money too, but is it wise to do so at the expense of your already paying customers? Rumor has it that T-Mobile® is also requiring customers to purchase internet service when you buy a new smart phone. This was optional before. Another added fee to perhaps offset T-Mobile®’s multi-million dollar contracts with celebrities.

I’m more inclined to do business with people who use regular old every-day actors in their ads...not actors as in stars, but actors as in commercial actors. Unknowns who may someday become A-lister’s because they were discovered in a commercial. I don’t always buy into celebrity figures using the products/services they’re paid to promote. In most cases, they just aren’t believable.

What’s your opinion of Hollywood superstars getting paid mega bucks to be the faces of major brands that we as consumers keep in business? Come on...be honest.

 

Photo credit: Ujjawal.bagaria