Just a few years ago it would have been unthinkable: Catherine Zeta-Jones winking at us on behalf of T-Mobile. Beyonce dancing for Revlon. William Shatner shilling for .
Now that sort of pitch is almost de rigueur, as much a part of a celebrity’s portfolio as a Web page.
Clearly, the stigma against performers doing commercials has lifted. In fact, it’s become a career-maker. Hawk the right product, and both seller and star emerge as better brands.
Attitudes have changed since the days when commercial work signaled the downfall of an actor’s career, and the reasons are varied, depending on whether you are talking with advertisers, academics or cultural critics. All agree a shift has occurred.
Start with the fact that marketing is like oxygen to a younger generation reared on commercial messages. Technology plays a role, too. The consumer’s perception of celebrity endorsements has evolved with the marketer’s ability to be everywhere.
It’s as if we now all live in a virtual Times Square, surrounded by blinking logos and slogans in an omnipresent advertising culture. Reading, driving, on our phones, we’ve grown accustomed to marketing messages beaming at us 2 4/7. Consumers even sign up to receive product pitches on sites like Facebook and Twitter.
“In general, our society is becoming more used to and more accepting of ‘being marketed to,’ says Margaret C. Campbell, an associate professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Leeds School of Business.
To put it more bluntly, “It’s not that millennials are more accepting of marketing, it’s that the entire culture runs on an endless stream of hucksterism and promotion,” said Brian Rose, professor of media studies at Fordham University in New York. “The concept of ‘selling out’ is as ancient and outdated as the baby boomers who were the last audience to whom the term even mattered.”
If you even think the word “sellout,” you probably belong to the generation that gasped when Bob Dylan went electric — or when he appeared in a Victoria’s Secret ad in 2004. That spot created a worldwide sensation. (“The undies, they are a changin’ ” snarked one headline.)
Now, veteran pop star Joe Jackson sings for Taco Bell, and he’s cool again.
While 500 million Facebook users might say they like having celebrities represent products and connect to their pages, some see a more sinister shift at work.
In Rose’s view, “advertisers and publicists now thoroughly control the cultural conversation (or at least try to attach themselves to it in every way possible), and celebrities understand that being out of the spotlight, however briefly, is to risk being left out of the perpetual buzz.”
Beloved icons or mere sellouts, top stars these days are pitching with only positive repercussions.
“There is no stigma,” said David Heitman of The Creative Alliance, a Colorado advertising/marketing firm. “It’s all about context. The greatest comeback in celebrity endorsement history is Betty White, who has become an icon of old but cool (in the wake of a clever Super Bowl ad). Many celebrities like her and Shatner bring with them a certain sense of irony. That’s the hook.”
What’s old is new again
In the old days, stars wove commercial pitches into their acts. Dinah Shore sang the virtues of Chevrolet, Ronald Reagan burnished Borax, Lucy and Desi shilled for Phillip Morris.
Pushback against commercial speech and efforts to make viewers more tele-literate combined in the 1970s and ’80s to make celebrity endorsements a career hazard. Then the pitchman was considered a hack. Recall a plumped Orson Welles shilling for bargain-brand Paul Masson, promising “no wine before its time.”
At that point, pre-Internet, advertising and the hyper-commercial culture were considered intrusions on personal space. Consumers trained themselves to be wary of commercial speech — and spokesmen.
That’s so last millennium.
“The stigma is gone!” boasts a Hollywood resource guide for actors and agents considering voiceover commercial work.
“Ask any voice-casting service. Ask any ad agency. They will all tell you that commercial voice work no longer carries a stigma for celebrities,” according to producer Dave Sebastian Williams of Dave & Dave Inc. in Los Angeles.
Unlike on-camera work, “a voiceover isn’t endorsing the product so much,” Williams said. “It’s under the radar.”
Of course some big-name actors still decline to do on-camera commercials. A-listers George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio do commercials in Japan, preferring to earn their millions out of sight of the U.S. audience. “They believe some casting directors may see them as a sellout,” Williams said. “It used to be more that way.”
Now, not so much.
The number of celebrity pitchmen and the fees they command suggest there is a new respect, even admiration for the role. The celebrity who links his own brand to a product is hip and of-the-moment. Think of it as meta marketing, fame upon fame, publicity about publicity.
Look, there’s Drew Barrymore doing a Cover Girl commercial. There’s Eva Longoria posing for L’Oreal, and listen to Allison Janney’s voice making U2 and the iPod scratch each other’s backs.
Ads pay the bills, supporting our access to free information in all its forms, and so we forgive the barrage. Today’s consumers are more receptive to all manner of advertising and marketing, from pop-ups on laptops to product placements within TV shows.
We even sign up for bombardment now, “friending” companies on social networks, from Target to the local diner, so they can send us instant marketing messages.
This is an about-face from the days when advertising was perceived as a blatant manipulation, something to guard against.
Now, “Americans have more of a feeling that marketing and advertising are essential parts of the economy,” CU’s Campbell said. “Younger consumers, in particular, have increased knowledge and understanding of marketing.”
The walls come down
Brand consultant Derrick Daye of The Blake Project believes “reality television and social media have brought the walls down.” Fans (i.e. consumers) can relate to celebrities as people. “When celebrities are ‘people too,’ it’s natural that they would have product preferences, likes and dislikes. It’s also natural that they want to share their opinions with a friend.”
The word “friend” is just one more cultural relic that has taken on new meaning. New-media entities like Facebook propagate this strange friendship.
“There has been an increase in what we call brand touchpoints,” Daye said. “This is key as we live in an ‘overcommunicated’ society. To rise above the noise requires many different channels, delivering a relevant and consistent message.”
A commercial is just another touchpoint.
“A brand is the sum of all experiences a customer has with you,” Daye said.
Advertising is one more bit of togetherness.
Bob Garfield, longtime Advertising Age columnist, disagrees that one generation is more open to marketing than another. He contends it’s still about the money: “Society at large is becoming ever more brand-obsessed and celebrity-obsessed. This increases the value of celebrity endorsements and also changes the risk-reward calculus.”
In short, Garfield said, “Richer opportunities for endorsements, combined with fewer opportunities in Hollywood and recording, yields more performers willing to risk the goose that lays the golden egg.”
For decades, it was strangely shocking to see a favorite actor or singer pushing products, seeming desperate. Wasn’t the next step “Hollywood Squares,” then life-insurance infomercials on cable?
Viewers sniffed at burnout cases who seemingly turned to advertising for the money. Bill Murray nailed the type in “Lost in Translation,” his 2003 film about a washed up American actor who sheepishly resorts to doing a whiskey commercial in Japan. Now notables at the top of their game, Ellen DeGeneres and Queen Latifah among them, are proudly pitching in U.S. prime time. (Some of the pitches are better than others. In a spot for Ameriprise, the late Dennis Hopper was equal parts weird and memorable.)
In the world of music, the commercial is a natural, increasingly admired venue. Perhaps you’ve heard Explosions in the Sky lending a tune to Cadillac, or Wilco doing the same for Volkswagen Eos? Sheryl Crow, Liz Phair, Left Eye and India.Arie warbling for The Gap. Music is a direct line to the target demographic these retailers seek.
Not surprisingly, beauty products are a particularly rich niche for stars who like to be seen as beautiful: Sharon Stone as brand ambassador for Dior, Kirstie Alley for Jenny Craig, Julianna Margolies for L’Oreal.
Beyond the co-branding, there is a sense of power available to celebs pitching products. Many artists express political views, declining to promote gas guzzlers, for instance, but throwing their weight behind hybrids.
Technology and a changing culture drive the trend. Celebrities need multiple channels these days — from movies to Twitter accounts. Commercials are just one more way to sustain the fame.
“First, new media have spawned a large increase in “content providers,” without an increase in what traditionally was considered content,” CU’s Campbell said. “Second, “fame” is more quickly won through media presence. The combination of these factors increases the willingness, and one could even say pressure, on celebrities to connect with marketers to increase their media presence.”
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
