Celebrity or SALE-brity
The answer is subjective, say some, while others assert that, of course, it affects the brand and the consumer’s perception of the brand.
The Aamir Khan controversy, or the absence of one, is not really perceived as a big issue by the industry. The reason? ‘He stood up for what he believed’ and that, according to many, is very personal and doesn’t hamper the brand in any way. Instead, some feel that it has worked in favour of the brands he endorses.
“The Aamir issue got him very high editorial mileage on national media. He came clean in front of the people and that gave him immense popularity and consolidated his public image,” says Francis Xavier, managing director, Francis Kanoi Marketing Planning.
But not so with some of the other celebrities. For instance, the Salman Khan controversy, as the industry says, has done a lot of harm to the actor’s image as well as the brands he endorses. His controversies, be it the black buck case, the feud with Aishwarya Rai, or his rash driving, have led to a cease of contract between him and the brands. Khan used to endorse Thums Up, but his involvement in these unsavoury issues led to his image negation.
It was a different story with actor Fardeen Khan. This Khan was involved in a recreational drugs case, but pulled out of the controversy so fast that the issue got erased from the public’s mind.
Deep down, Jagdeep Kapoor, managing director, Samsika Marketing Consultants, believes that the difference between a commodity and a brand is the trust the consumer has in the brand name. Anything that disturbs this trust affects the consumer. It could be in the form of a person, the quality of the product or the packaging.
Echoing similar sentiments, Priti Nair Chakravarthy, executive creative director, Lowe, says, “Any celebrity involved in a controversy and carrying bad baggage would certainly affect the brand. After all, the consumer believes the media when celebrities are projected in a certain way. So, their perception of the celeb gets altered.”
Controversies apart, the performance of celebrities, too, can have a negative impact on the brand’s delivery. But Xavier feels that this impact is not on a big scale. “When the performance of the person goes down, obviously, the extent to which he/she was lifting up the brand will go down. I doubt if the normal ups and downs in performance will directly affect sales,” he says.
Sourav Ganguly’s controversy killed his ‘hot property’ image. The Tiger was no longer able to impress either the advertisers or his fans. He used to be the brand ambassador for Himani, Coca-Cola, etc., but his being dropped as captain of the Indian cricket team and the Chappell controversy backfired on him.
The bottom line, as Kapoor states, is that As long as the celebrity adds to the credibility of the brand, it’s great, but if the celeb downgrades the credibility, it’s bad.
“The way out, when faced with such a crisis, is to discontinue the contract with the celebrity, again after weighing the intensity of the controversy,” says Gullu Sen, vice-chairman of Dentsu India.
Hemant Mishra, senior vice-president, Pepsi, JWT, disagrees. According to him, an impulsive reaction to a crisis would be unjustified. “The media is becoming the judge these days on various issues,” he says, pointing out that an understanding of the situation is required more than pulling out of the contract immediately.
Being cautious about hiring a brand ambassador also helps in avoiding unsavoury situations. Lowe conducts consumer research to identify whether the consumers will associate the celebrity with the attributes of the brand. For example, Abhishek Bachchan has the image of being very chilled out, fun-loving, caring, etc., so he should be associated with brands that have similar propositions.
Replacing a celebrity with another one and constantly changing the brand appeal also loosens the communication between the two. On the other hand, doing away with the celebrity is not a good idea since, most of the time; he is the differentiator between a million other brands in the same category.
