Celebrities Marketing: Brands Take Hit in China

I found this video on Adage today of Michael Phelps apologizing to his Chinese fans on his recent inappropriate behavior. What is interesting and ironic is the eye catchy remark of the video "Mazada to Phelps: You Apologize to China Right Now!" As it turns out, this video is distributed by Mazada after it announced earlier this week that it will stick by deal with Michael Phelps, its million dollar record-breaking spoke person, despite his bong incident.

Apparently Michael Phelps is not alone, A-Roid, Chris Brown all joined the celebrity bad behavior list just in the last few weeks. Brands that spent millions on these celebrity endorsements found their images damaged. When Mazada stick with the deal, Kellogg and Wrigley quickly dropped Phelps and Brown and suspend all future contract. These celebrity missteps may blow over in the U.S, where we like to see our heroes to make mistake and we tend to forget and forgive, consumers outside of U.S. are far more less forgiving of poor behavior. In Michael Phelps case, the Chinese have a much more conservative view on drug use than here in the United States, brands that supports Phelps in the Olympics such as Omega and Visa suffered serious damage on their image in China.

So the question is then if the money spend on celebrities marketing is really helping the brand especially at a time when consumer is cutting back on spending ever more than before. I think the answer to that will not be just a simple yes or no. There are examples of successful celebrity endorsement, such as Nike with Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. These endorsements work because the image of the celebrities and the brand fits. People wear Air Jordans because they think they'll help them play basketball just a little bit like Mike. People use Nike golf gear to hit that ball a little bit straighter and farther, a little more like Tiger does. To sum up, brands will continue to rely on celebrities in marketing because we continue to be fascinate by them. To minimize the risk of involved with celebrity marketing, company need to choose the celebrity who actually fits the brand and also consider how his or her action will be perceived not just in the U.S. but around the world.