Celebrity Endorsements - The Good, The Bad and the Pitfalls
7th November 2013
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How are alcohol brands made popular by their celebrity ambassadors, and what risks does this carry for the reputations of said celebs?
It’s no secret that celebrities are a dab hand at making us buy their stuff; from perfume to clothes, jewellery to make-up. But one step along that celebrity branding money making machine leads us to the murky depths of alcohol endorsement.
However, unlike perfume adverts in which our favourite celebs freely tease us with sultry glances, imploring us with their unblinking eyes that not only do they smell so damn good but also that we should too, when it comes to alcohol endorsement there is a certain level of caution when celebrities are involved.
It’s fair to state that whilst many lyrics are ridden with references to alcohol, from Kesha’s Tik Tok, where her dental hygiene consists of brushing her teeth ‘before I leave with a bottle of Jack’, to J Kwon’s Tipsy tune from back in the day, many celebrities much prefer to be silent financial backers rather than faces at the forefront of an alcoholic product. And it’s not hard to see why.
So Why?
Just taking a look at itsthedrinktalking.co.uk, a platform that addresses the relations between young people and alcohol, and we can clearly see from the topics of the blogs that the negative often outweighs the positive. With issues from drink driving to the effect of advertising, is it any wonder that for a celebrity, outright alcohol endorsement carries certain risks? You need to glance only at the Showbiz section of The Sun or scroll down on the Daily Mail website to see numerous celebs staggering out of clubs and that’s on their days off, so imagine what kind of image would be promoted to their adoring young fans when all of a sudden they started advertising a drink product? There’s been enough scandal over Professor Green and his promotion of Relentless energy drinks, so for a celebrity to advertise alcohol, it’s going to take some careful planning.
In marketing speak however, careful planning can sometimes translate to covert operation. Ever seen Leonardo Dicaprio’s Jim Beam advert on television? No?
Maybe that’s because it only airs in Japan. Such adverts are not only financially lucrative but they also serve to protect said celebrity’s credible reputation as well as stopping them from suffering a backlash from the fierce defenders of the legal age limit (21 years old) to buy and consume alcohol in America.

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