When Celebrities do it, they do it well
Posted on 28. Jul, 2010 by Graham in Headlines and Opinions
I just could not miss an opportunity to mention the World Cup again. I know my brief said talk about celebrities, but I can’t do that unless I bring in the World Cup and say how brilliant South Africa was, particularly the police in PE. Ah, celebrities! They have it all – the money, the bling, the fans, the cars, living the life O’ Riley – or do they? Are they miserable with all that money? Why the drugs, the constant rehab and even jail terms? Between you and me, I don’t think they know the meaning of the word unhappy. They can buy friends, and very nice ones at that; obliging souls who would do almost anything for them. And they can buy a whole cause when the rest of us can only afford to take up pottery. How do they do it? Money!
Okay, it’s not as easy as that. You have to make your money grow no matter how much you have, or living that kind of lifestyle will soon see it all depleted. Ask Will Smith, he could tell you a story about spending freely and nearly losing it all. Smith started out as part of a rap group trio, which won the first ever Grammy for in the Rap category in 1988. But the spendthrift soon lost all his money and was saved from bankruptcy when in 1990 NBC launched his acting career with the very successful Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Smith was consistently listed as one of the 40 richest under-40s in Fortune magazine. Aside from acting and music, Smith makes his money through the film and entertainment industry. But progression in ones industry is perfectly understandable, almost natural as opposed to those who start out as singers, move into acting and then next thing you know, they’re in your favourite magazine holding a perfume bottle that’s named after them.
Good old branding – and not the kind where you singe the hide of a cow with a hot iron. For a long time, celebrities have been endorsing products, giving themselves and the products mileage. Now many of them have their own brands. And they are successful. Why? Because people want to be like them – wearing Paris Hilton perfume or handbags or sportswear or sunglasses or footwear (yeah, a long list and it goes on) makes them feel they can attain the lifestyle, the look of Paris. Strange how ordinarily good people with good values would want to be like Paris who has been in jail, who’s a household name not because of her movie, House of Wax, but because of all her hard partying and all the sticky situations she seems to find herself in. But that’s the power of branding. It has the ability to elevate people beyond their flawed characters to symbols of success, confidence, power; beautiful, sleek images.
Let’s face it, we are all susceptible to branding. Branding of the retail kind happens in the blink of an eye. It permeates our lives, creeps up on you even when you think you’re above it all. We all do brands. Everything up to our toilet paper has a brand name. It’s about choice. We can choose between Colgate and Mentadent. We can choose between Nike and Adidas. And the way in which products are branded is what makes one more popular than another. Who better to use than those beautiful creatures, who endlessly intrigue us with their antics, and who adorn our big screens and stages; who feature endlessly on our billboards and our newspapers?
People have to be “brandable”; George Clooney – film star, single good looking man, humanitarian, mysterious and funny and he sports sunglasses for Police; JLo – singer, dancer, actress, gave respectability to the protruding derrière (bless her soul), trendy, good looking, graceful and elegant, and she has among others, her own clothing line.
But there is a very real business imperative here. Take David Beckham, a brilliant soccer player, who has made millions using his skills. He is exceptional player in front of the goal posts, but nobody reaches forty in soccer anymore. Living the life to which he is accustomed is going to cost. No more soccer and voi·là, he has his own underwear line. Long live David Beckham – good looking and married to a brand. Elizabeth Taylor extended herself through Poison, Jane Fonda through L’Oreal, and the list goes on.
Many of them do it for the money, no doubt, but many do it for a cause – Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Annie Lennox, and Angelina Joli to name but a few. If you consider the campaigns they support – environmental issues, saving the whales, human rights – and the concerts for Haiti, to save the children of the world, for Nelson Mandela, and many others, you have to admire them and aspire to be like them. Are they the branding for the cause, perhaps? Branding is a powerful tool, and not just for retailers. It is a clever way of catching the imagination of ordinary people through structuring a message intended to be understood and accepted by recipients of that message.
