Question 3 Celebrity Testimony Ads

            The world of the media is a very cutthroat-shady business. Many things go on that are kept secret and hidden away from the general public. Advertisement is a large branch of the media, and the most important part of it as well since it is responsible for making the companies money. People in this line of work are very competitive and slick; usually “weasels” that tend to get away with certain things. As a result, there are many types of ads that can or cannot work. One of these happens to be testimony of celebrities for a product. Sue Jozui makes a very valid point about these types of ads on how they are the worst type and are insulting to the audience since no one is expected to like something because someone else likes it too. But there is a line to be drawn to separate the good and the bad aspects of these ads. And Sue is somewhat wrong. In order to tell whether these ads should be band or not, one must put themselves in the world of advertisement to see from their point of view. One should also analyze the purpose of this ad, and one should take notice of the effect.

            Advertisers are constantly trying to come up with new commercial techniques or themes. They’re doing this because the methods used before aren’t working so well now. But testimonies from celebrities are a type of ad that can never get old. Meaning it’s something that will always work. Many celebrities are idolized by a large group of people so the advertisers notice this and see the large impact one person can do. For example, Matthew Mcconaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club,” recently won an Academy Award for best Male Performance in a Leading Role. He’s currently blossoming with his career. Call it a comeback. People have seen this, and now he has appeared in a Lincoln Automobile’s commercial. The sales went up 20% as a result. To the media, starts and celebrities are seen as money, that’s why many companies fight over the contracts of these people. More celebrities will rise, and the commercials will never die out.

            Many if these ads are lazily made with the idol summarizing the product. But very few are well made and are successful that affect the audience the most. The purpose of these ads is to get the audience’s attention first, and to buy the certain product, but it differs from each commercial. For example, a product can be beneficial to people and a celebrity truly likes it so much that he/she wants to participate in the commercial. Some of these commercials raise awareness to a product as well as an organization or group of people.

            The effects of these commercial should be viewed on as well in order to determine whether they should be removed. The effects could be: people buy a certain product more, the star gets paid, people are happy with what they purchased, and the companies make more money. If all these examples are met, and at few times they are, then there is no need to band anything. But if the commercials do become offensive, then they should be removed. The chances of people listening to a celebrity are slim. So all one has to do is worry about themselves.