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From a social framework, celebrity endorsements give us something to talk about.  For example, Paris Hilton’s endorsement of “The Spicy BBQ” in 2005 still has people talking about it!

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In addition, research has found that consumers are more likely to buy a product endorsed by their favorite celeb.  This reflects both social and cultural values of our country.

From a cultural framework, celebrity endorsements are largely dependent on the many cultures of the world.  Each endorsements reflects cultural values and aspects of that specific culture.  For example, the oversexualized images of U.S. celebrity endorsements are not always appropriate or acceptable in other ares of the world.

In addition, celebrity endorsements portray the values of our culture to other countries.  A study conducted by Cho & Agrusa (2007) found that the acceptance of U.S. celebrity endorsements in other countries increase the likelihood that they would buy the product.  However, when the endorsement was not accepted or deemed inappropriate, the people of that country were less likely to buy the products.

Political Economy

Stuart Hall

In Notes on Deconstructing ‘The Popular,’ Stuart Hall presents two definitions of popular; the market definition and descriptive definition. In relation to popular lifestyle products of fitness and weight loss, a market definition of health trends in society would represent the masses of people who are consumed with the process of mindless consumption of celebrities endorsing the latest diet system or exercise machine. People buy the hottest exercise apparel, read the latest health magazines, and consume the newest diet fads, overall enjoying this consumption in their lives. A descriptive definition of popular health trends digs a little deeper then just the consumption of a product or process. The descriptive definition looks at what people do or have done within this popular culture. A descriptive definition of weight loss trends represents the culture and customs of the people that fully partake in maintaining a healthy way of life through nutrition and exercise. Thus, this relates to the people who view these endorsed products, such as Nutrisystem, and take action by buying the product, following the weight loss system, and establishing the importance of a healthy weight as a cultural value within their life. Understanding Hall’s definitions of popular is significant because it allows for people to see the meaning and process by which popular culture is consumed in life.

John Fiske

According to Fiske, “popularity is the measure of a cultural form’s ability to serve the desires of its consumers” (Fiske, pg. 565), thus, for a cultural commodity to be popular it needs to meet the various interests of the people amongst whom it is popular with as well as the interest of its produces. When it comes to investigating people’s popular lifestyles, such as fitness and weight loss, beer, country concerts, and tattoos, it is important to understand the ways in which these types of cultural commodities get circulated based on the diversity of text. According to Fiske there is a range of diversity within popular text and it is important to understand these types of text in order to see how they are circulated throughout our cultural economy. Fiske calls these two types of text; homogeneous text and niche text. Investigating the diversity of popular text is significant because it is important to understand the circulation of popular text amongst certain audiences, which leads to an understanding of what makes certain texts popular.

Homogeneous Text:

These types of popular text have an open nature to them, which gives them the ability to target a large audience. Homogeneous texts aim to produce a wide range of relatable narratives which are open to a large number of different interpretations. In terms of advertisements and celebrity endorsements of popular lifestyles, fitness and weight loss and beer would be considered open texts which have the ability to research out to a large and diverse audience. Fitness and weight loss commodities endorsed by celebrities, such as Kristie Ally (actress) with Jenny Craig and Dan Marino (NFL athlete) with Nutrisystem, are aired on major cable networks which aim to incorporate a large diverse audience. In addition these advertisements use relatable celebrity spokespeople, like Dan Marino (NFL athlete), Jenny McCarthy (actress), Queen Latifah (rapper/actress), and Kimberly Locke (American Idol star), in an effort to create a sense if identification with a diverse audience.

Niche Text:

Niche texts in popular culture have a closed nature to them, meaning that these types of text tend to target a specific audience demographic. Unlike homogeneous text, niche texts do not allow a lot of room for interpretation, and if one has a hard time relating to a text they will probably not enjoy it. For example, stations like Lifetime, BET, and WE air programs and advertisement that are aimed at a more specific audience. When related to advertisements and celebrity endorsements of popular lifestyles such as tattoo culture and country music entertainment, these types of popular commodities target specific range of interests that people have. For example shows like Miami Ink and stations like CMT are popular within a certain type of audience and are not necessary relatable to the masses.

Feminism

Michel Foucault

Foucault’s investigation of the relationship between power, the body and sexuality has stimulated large interest within the feminist tradition. Foucault’s asserts that the body is a site cultural construction, thus meaning that our bodies can be a site of meaning in culture. His identification of the body as a target of power leads to the feminist analysis of ones social control over a women’s mind and body. According to Foucault people are active producers of their bodies. In terms of our focus on popular lifestyle within our culture, endorsing weight loss products, beer, and tattoos all incorporate the active production of ones body. Weight loss advertisements aim to illustrate the idea that you have the power to control your body and actively produce the image that you desire. Tattoos are a means by which people produce meaning and control in their lives by establishing their bodies as the production site. Beer advertisements use the female body as a way to actively endorse the popularity of beer. These beer advertisements draw attention to the product through the means of attractive sexual women who bare their bodies in an effort to grab people’s attention. Foucault’s theory on power and actively producing the body is significant to endorsements and advertisements of things such as beer, tattoos, and weight loss because the means by which these products are advertised is based ones relationship with their body.

Susan Bordo

Bordo is a modern feminist philosopher known for her contributions in the field of cultural studies. Bordo has been considered the founder of the new interdisciplinary field of work known as ‘body studies’, which can be closely related to Foucault’s work on power, the body, and sexuality. Her work links modern consumer culture directly to the formation of ones gendered body. Bordo is especially known for her book, Unbearable weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body (1993). This text looks at the impact of popular culture, such as television, advertisements, and magazines, in shaping the female body. Bordo’s work on ‘body studies’ ties in with popular culture lifestyles, such as weight loss and tattoo, because they are highly based on ones body as a site for cultural production.

One question that has been asked of celebrity endorsements is how effective they are.  A number of researches have explored this question.  Lord and Petrevu discuss this question in their article Informational and Transformational Response to Celebrity Endorsement.  They found that the attractiveness, trustworthiness, and perceived expertise of a celebrity all affect the public’s perception of a product or service.

Another question that has been asked is if celebrity endorsements are effective, why are they effective?  Lord and Petrevu also answer this question in the same article.  They employ the Elaboration Likelihood Model to explain two main modes of persuasion related to celebrity endorsements.  These two modes of persuasion are the peripheral route and the central route.   The peripheral route is basically a shallow mode of persuasion in that the public is persuaded by superficial celebrity images.  The central route is basically the audience taking an active role in being persuaded and researches a product instead of relying on a celebrity endorsement to make their purchasing decisions.

How have celebrity endorsements been discussed in academic and non-academic circles?

Celebrity endorsements have been discussed widely in the field of Communication. The essay Political economy and cultural studies: Reconciliation or divorce? discusses celebrity endorsements from a political economy perspective.  Political economy is essentially the idea that ideas are turned into commodities and have different worth in a culture (Graham, 620).

The article above is just one example of an academic discussion of celebrity endorsements.  The Journal of Consumer Research is an academic journal that is dedicated to studying the perceptions of consumer audiences.

Outside of the “ivory tower” of academia, celebrity endorsements are an often discussed topic in a number of circles.  Vast numbers of blogs dedicated to certain celebrities discuss celebrity endorsements.  In addition to blogs about celebrities, endorsements are often the topic of non-academic blogs about Communication regulations.  A number of on-line newspapers discuss celebrity endorsements as well.

What can these two types of communities learn from each other?

The academic world and non-academic world can certainly learn a lot from each other.  By discussing celebrity endorsements, non-theorists could better understand why and how they are persuaded by celebrities.  Those involved in the academic world can better understand the “real life” implications of the theories to which they have contributed.

How might we go about engaging and contributing to that conversation?

This blog itself is an example of how we could contribute to the discussion of celebrity endorsements in the academic and non-academic communities.  Because this blog discusses Communication theory and applies these concepts heuristically, both academics and non-academics have the ability to engage in this conversation.  The internet is a proper medium for this discussion because it allows for free access.

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While Twitter has made some small gains in utilizing social media for celebrity endorsements, much improvement can be made.  Social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace should be used for celebrity endorsements more.  While these applications all have many ads, few of them contain celebrities.  When it comes to advertising, it has been found that celebrities boost sales of products because fans identify with their favorite celebrity and, therefore, are more likely to buy a product.  Almost all celebrities use Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace.  While they endorse themselves on these sites, it would be beneficial for them to endorse products as well.

Above is a video of sponsoring via Twitter – where Twitter has made small gains in adding celebrity endorsements to their sites.