Celebrities in Advertisements
Ads are apart of our everyday life. They are on the television, the computer, and in the streets we walk. It's one thing you cannot get away from. In this passage, columnist Sue Jozui argues that when advertisements use celebrities to endorse their products, it is a misleading type of marketing that insults the audience's intelligence. In other words, she firmly believes that the fraudulent type of advertisements should not exist. Jozui cites examples of different type of celebrities endorsing different products and how they pretend to use them in order to point out the advertising they do is untruthful. The author expresses her suspicion of the notion that the audience transfers the approval of the product depending on the artist. One of the main implications the author makes is if it continuous, ads will be less truthful and will use the image of a celebrity to sell. Because of this, Jozui concludes that that type of advertising should be boycotted and there should be certain guidelines for them to follow.
The fact that celebrities are in ads, should not be a bad thing, the celebrities help put the product out there and give it a bigger audience. By using celebrities, they can attract people into buying their products, that does not mean that the audience is unintelligent. It is up to the consumer to believe whatever they want to believe, the celebrity is just there to help the product strive. A celebrity could be doing something for their own reasons, they could possibly have faith in that product or for other intentions, but just because a celebrity uses a product means you will use it, they are there to help a consumer make a decision and it should not be the fault of the celebrity if you like or dislike the product, it is the way the companies push you to buy the product. It is inevitable to avoid something that has so much influence to society, people want to be just like there idols, so by using celebrities, product sell will raise. All celebrities do, is just build awareness of a product, it is up to the consumer to decide what they will do.
If advertisements had guidelines and were regulated, advertisements would not be as interesting and creative. Advertisements would be dull and would all be the same. If the legislation put rules on what companies can and cannot do, all advertisement would be the same. For example, ads would just show a product and have a background voice and it would be over. By putting regulations, there is no way to express one's creativity. There are ad regulations now, but if there were regulations like Jozui would want, there would be nothing cool and fun about advertising. By using celebrities, all companies are doing is just trying to beat out competition, they are just trying to get more people on their side then the next.
Not all celebrities that advertise a product do it in an untruthful way. A celebrity could be apart of a campaign because they truly believe in what it can do. For example, during interviews celebrities are asked products they like, they truthfully say a product they like because they believe in it, not just because they were told to say they like it. By doing so, they make the viewer more aware and advertise by accident because they like that product. Celebrities also can prove the credibility of a product and attract more people quickly. Also, if a celebrity likes something, they could give the brand recognition and give the success that the brand or product deserves, so it is not just always in the shadows of the big companies that made their names years ago. For example, some celebrities show off the underground things they like, like restaurants and music because they like it.
Jozui's way of thinking is an unrealistic way of thinking. If we follow Jozui's way of thinking, nothing will strive the way that they should, putting guidelines and taking celebrities out of ads would just hurt everyone because people need approval of what they do or buy. However, people could get approval by peers, the biggest way is through celebrities. Also, the way that celebrities advertise should not be insulting because it should be up to a person to know what is right from wrong or what to do or not do again. If we follow the mind set of Jozui, nothing will strive and creativity would be something frowned upon. There is no harm done if a celebrity advertises something because a product needs help raising itself up the ranks.
Word Count: 775
