Many people are familiar with the ubiquitous Wheaties box with its rotating pictures of star athletes or the titillating ads featuring nothing coming between a pubescent Brooke Shields and her Calvins. Using celebrity images to market products has become a heavily used, stealthily applied concept to win over consumers, to change and solidify beauty norms, and ultimately to create and form a market for all types of goods and products. In the 19th century, celebrity status may have existed in the form of Queen Victoria selling purity and imperial might on a bar of soap—by the postwar period, however, celebrities had taken on a different significance, a different character and, indeed, a different social and economic class. The power of a celebrity endorsement of a product is both implicit and explicit—the assumption is that the celebrity is one the public admires and aspires to be and uses the product he is selling. Thus, to be like Mike, that is, like basketball legend Michael Jordan, the message is often that the actual use, consumption, or ownership of the product can bring one a little closer to his celebrity. In the beauty industry, celebrity endorsements take things one step further by having celebrities presumably use and testify to the efficacy of a product. They are stars, they are beautiful, in part because of the products they use. The consumer then has the possibility of achieving that same beauty by purchasing and following the regime of her favorite celebrity.
Makeup
Makeup companies and artists have had long-standing relationships with actresses because they may work together on a project. Max Factor, a pioneer in movie makeup, used his relationships with such stars as Jean Harlow, Clara Bow, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Claudia Colbert, and Judy Garland to sell his line of cosmetics. Max Factor was one of the first to use his connections with movie studios and with studio starlets to sell his products. He even appeared in cameos in the films—bringing a new type of beauty reality to beautiful fiction. Not only was he a pioneer in advertising campaigns and in the popularizing of celebrity products for the common consumer, but Max Factor also understood the fairytale associations between what people saw on the screen, on the pages, in the glossies, and what women hoped to appear to be.
Other companies such as Maybelline (Kristin Davis, Zhang Ziyi, Jessica Alba, and Christy Turlington), CoverGirl (Rihanna, Drew Barrymore, Ellen Degeneres, and Queen Latifah), and L’Oréal (Beyoncé Knowles, Andie McDowell, and Diane Keaton) have followed suit. Even higher-end makeup companies, such as Kinerase (Courtney Cox Arquette), Estée Lauder (Elizabeth Hurley and Gwyneth Paltrow), Elizabeth Arden (Catherine Zeta-Jones), Coco Chanel (Nicole Kidman and Keira Knightly), Christian Dior (Charlize Theron), and SKII (Cate Blanchett) use celebrity images and endorsements. Celebrities are not only endorsing products, they are making their own—Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey, Gwen Stefani, Iman, Cindy Crawford, David and Victoria Beckham, Victoria Jackson all have their names on perfumes, cosmetics, or skin care lines. The message is simple—one can be beautiful if one uses the same products as these celebrities.
Hair Care
The hair care industry also understood the power of the celebrity endorsement in the name brand familiarity and the marketing of styling products and shampoos. In the mid 1980s, actress Kelly LeBrock made the slogan “Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful” famous for Pantene. Her shiny, smooth, and fabulously coiffed locks were the envy of many women—and they were available to all, with the purchase of a bottle of Pantene. Maria Menounos, an entertainment journalist who began her career on Entertainment Tonight, is Pantene’s latest spokeswoman—making a celebrity of someone whose job is to talk to celebrities. L’Oréal (Andie MacDowell and Eva Longoria) and Garnier Nutrisse (Sarah Jessica Parker and Katie Holmes) have featured actresses who use their hair color products. Most recently, David Babaii created a line of eco and animal-friendly hair products with actress Kate Hudson. The tag line for his products? “Tested on Kate, not on animals.” There are also examples of celebrity-endorsed and celebrity-developed products. Both Jessica Simpson and Paris Hilton have their own lines of hair extensions.
Supermodels and Actresses
The rise of the supermodel—among the greats, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell, and Kate Moss—in the 1980s and 1990s brought a different kind of celebrity endorsement to the beauty industry. While models had certainly been the faces for advertisements of the beauty industry since its inception, by the 1980s, supermodels were no longer nameless, beautiful faces. The women brought their own style, sensibility, and name recognition to the products and the brand name.
By the 1990s, however, supermodels gave way to actress-turned-models. Beauty magazines like Vogue, Elle, Vanity Fair, and Women’s Wear Daily began to feature actresses as well as models on their covers. Perhaps in reaction to the two-dimensional characters that models often portrayed, actresses now talked about lifestyles, incorporating their professional careers with their roles as mothers, wives, and as women. Rather than presenting a perfect image to emulate, celebrities spoke candidly about their own flaws and weaknesses. There may be no greater example than ProActiv, a skin care and acne line that has received endorsements from Jessica Simpson, Sean P. Diddy Combs, Vanessa L. Williams, Britney Spears, Alyssa Milano, Julianne Hough, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Serena Williams—to name some. These celebrities talked about their insecurities, their beauty problems, and their final remedy through the product. Their skin flaws were the consumer’s skin flaws and their solution could be the consumer’s solution.
Related to beauty products are exercise regimens, fitness equipment, and meal plans. Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston, Madonna, and Courtney Cox helped make Pilates, yoga, and budokon popular. These may not have been official endorsements, but as actresses talked about their own nutrition and exercise routines, women used their testimonials to explore new forms of exercise. Chuck Norris and Christie Brinkley are both paid spokespeople for the Total Gym. They host an infomercial and claim to be users themselves. Whoopi Goldberg was both a client and spokesperson for LA Weight Loss; Kirstie Alley, Valerie Bertinelli, and Queen Latifah joined and lost weight with Jenny Craig; and Jenny McCarthy became an official spokeswoman for Weight Watchers in 2006.
Recent Trends
The fashion industry, which has long exploited its relationships with starlets (think Audrey Hepburn and Givenchy), now hires stylists and public relations firms to entice celebrities to wear the newest couture from their newest lines. Whereas it had frequently been the practice of the past to have wardrobe designers make and select gowns for the stars of their films for awards shows such as the Oscars, celebrities are now being sent designer dresses from established and new fashion houses alike. With the plethora of awards shows, television appearances, and print photographs, newer designers have gained recognition through the celebrity endorsement of having their gowns worn by A-list actresses. Elie Saab, for example, became one of the most sought-after designers when Halle Berry wore his gown when she became the first African American woman to win the Oscar in the best actress category for her work in Monster’s Ball (2002). Eva Longoria used the opportunity of hosting the ALMA Awards to feature Latino designers like Angel Sanchez. Most recently, when Michelle Obama appeared on The View in a $148 White House/Black Market sheath, the dress virtually sold out overnight. This is proof positive that celebrity endorsement, whether intentional or not, is a powerful marketing tool.
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