164 - The Consequences of Relentless Celebrity Marketing Part 1
Celebrities online are doing less and less entertaining, and more and more product peddling and brand management. How much is this hurting public trust?
Celebrities today are hyper-endorsed: like NASCAR cars plastered in brands and labels that they don’t represent, and they don’t understand. In this episode we uncover the tangled world of celebrity endorsements, with a spotlight on Shaquille O'Neal's controversial involvement with FTX and cryptocurrency just before the big crypto bust. As we delve into Shaq's story we're forced to question the ethical boundaries of celebrity influence. What does it say about our society when our idols endorse products they barely understand? And why is Shaq hiding in his mansion from the authorities, like the world’s biggest hide-and-seek player?
We also navigate the treacherous waters of celebrity marketing, shedding light on how such endorsements shape consumer perceptions and market dynamics. We’ll take a look at the Federal Trade Commission's role in regulating sponsored content, and ask if the FTC is doing enough to regulate celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and her snake oil line of products. And we’ll examine the science-backed correlation between the square footage of a celebrity’s mansion, and how disconnected and pompous that celebrity behaves.
Finally, we’ll take a look at the broader implications of celebrity branding in our digital age. Are celebrities inadvertently turning themselves into walking advertisements, blurring the lines between opinion and commercial gain? How much influence do they actually hold in shaping our personalities, or our children? And if celebrities are effectively becoming brand managers with stunningly good looks…can we trust them to tell us who to vote for, or which political policies to endorse?
History Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSu76VUIkEg&ab_channel=TheMoneyChannel2
https://fortune.com/2023/05/17/crypto-lawsuits-shaq-celebrity-endorsers-ftx/
https://www.cracked.com/article_35322_a-complete-history-of-goop-being-awful.html
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/04/fx-feud-finale
https://www.campaignlive.com/article/history-advertising-no-170-joan-crawfords-pepsi-sign/1392770
Science Links:
https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/psp-pspi0000187.pdf
https://hbr.org/2019/05/when-scandal-engulfs-a-celebrity-endorser
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1948550616641472
https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/ftcs-endorsement-guides-what-people-are-asking
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/between-you-and-me/202203/the-role-familiarity-in-attraction
https://hbr.org/2019/05/when-scandal-engulfs-a-celebrity-endorser