Class Blog: Celebrity Endorsements

It seems like celebrity endorsements are everywhere in today's world of advertising. Athletes endorse anything from the very products that they use on the field or court all the way to products that have nothing to do with their perfomance. Derek Jeter endorses Gillette razors, Lebron James endorses Sprite and State Farm, Dwayne Wade endorses T-Mobile, and even Peyton Manning endorses DirecTV, Sony, and Sprint. The point I am trying to make is that none of these products have anything to do with what these athletes do in their respective sports. Companies give these stars millions of dollars because they know they will bring publicity and a spotlight onto their product. I mean how exciting can you possibly make a commercial or a billboard featuring Gillette razors. But when you throw Derek Jeter into the mix, then you have a ground to gain interest in your product.

When Kelloggs decided to drop Michael Phelps but Speedo did not, I think this says a lot about how effective a celebrity endorsement can be when it is in the right field. Of course Speedo isn't going to drop Michael Phelps, they should come hand in hand together! I cannot name another swimmer or another swimsuit manufacturer in the whole world of the top of my head. The reason for this is because they are both the best at what they do. Michael Phelps is the biggest possible endorser of a swimming product like Speedo could possibly ask for, and the same for Speedo about getting Michael Phelps. How this compares with Kelloggs is that they could probably live without Michael Phelps. Phelps' swimming ability really has nothing to do with breakfast cereal anyways. Kelloggs can always find another celebrity endorser and they could still have a great reason as to why that new person is a better person to represent their product, Speedo cannot do this. It is like if Nike wanted to drop Michael Jordan, it just wouldn't make any business sense.