What role does the celebrity play in advertising?

Introduction
Celebrities play a big role in advertising and boosting the sales of
products. Companies tend to use celebrities to promote their
products, but why does it matter who is using the product? This
generation has been molded to look up to those in power whether
they like it or not. In human behaviour, obedience is a form of social
influence in which a person accepts orders from an authority figure.
Ive chosen to take a psychological view on how easily people can
be manipulated into buying things they do not necessarily need.
Over the years many influential psychologists have had theories
that I feel go hand in hand with the advertising market. People have
started to overly obsess everything, from trends to life-styles.
Celebrities help create awareness of the products which motivate
consumers to buy it. Celebrities in advertisements mostly look
flawless giving an unrealistic image in whatever product they are
endorsing which pressurizes consumers especially girls who look up
to them and feel forced to get the product even though they have
no need for it which I will explore more about through this essay
with Sigmund Freuds and Edward Bernays theories, and Maslows
hierarchy of needs.
Well-known public figures or
celebrities take part in product
endorsement in order to
commercially exploit their fame
and public profile, it is a good
marketing tool and also promotes
the businesses and brands.
Product endorsement is a form of
approve from the celebrity, which
automatically drives the
consumers to approve of the
product and entices them to
purchase products they dont
often need. S.J Ferguson found
that representations of women in
mainstream media are
manipulated and due to this the media exposes women to
photographs of thin, attractive women, which are unrealistic and
women experience an immediate decrease in body satisfaction.
Adverts highlight your flaws chances are that you would not have
noticed as much till they point it out making you automatically
question yourself, Telling you what could be improved and how to
change it usually comparing you to celebrities. This advert of Natalie
Portman, which was photoshopped so that her skin looks perfect, is
one that many young girls would look at in longing because they
want to look like her to be beautiful like her. Advertising run

emotional ideas so instead of explaining how a product works it

demonstrates how the product will improve a potential customers
life, so when we are faced with a perfume advert, instead of
describing the smell of the fragrance the ad will tell you how you will
feel when wearing it or how others will react to it for example men.

In this Kim Kardashian perfume

advert she exudes sexuality,
Researches have found that seeing
an attractive man or women in an
advert excites the areas of the
brain that makes people buy on
impulse and ignore parts of the
brain which control rational
thought. Kim is dressed in retro
lingerie and a marabou coat
playing up to her signature sex
appeal. The advert shows her
swinging in a circle that mirrors the shape of the perfume this
suggests that shes consumed by her fragrance and her expression
is one of invitation, compelling you to buy it even if you have no
clue what it smells like usually in perfume adverts they would give a
clue to what the fragrance contains like having fruits in the advert or
the perfume bottle being shaped in a flower but with Kim
Kardashians perfume they leave the image of her to do all the
explaining consumers need because thats all they care about, the
celebrity at the face of it.
Kim Kardashian is a good example of a celebrity that has a business
empire that was built predominately around her image. She has
successfully used her physical beauty and lifestyle to build her
super stardom and wealth that was made possible because of all the
people that pay her the attention whether it is negative or positive.
Which goes to show how anyone can be a celebrity even for just a
tiny while someone could go into the big bother house and come out
a phenomenon based on a couple of comments or opinions. The
idea of it being a game someone goes bring in the next which shows
that society is always moving waiting for the next big thing thirsty
for entertainment desperate for change because that is what people
want, what they aim for, people want to have money want to have a
higher status and buy the latest Kim Kardashian perfume be up to
date with all the newest trends. The idea of Kim Kardashian is
enough for people to go and buy the products that she uses or sells
because they have this idea that once they pay for the things she
has or uses they will look or feel more like her, and as she is an
attractive women she is able to use her beauty and manipulate

women with low self esteem in to thinking that they need to buy
certain products to be as beautiful as she is.
There are many ways in which celebrities can affect the choice
people make for example the subway advertisement, which shows
various athletes expressing amazement that Subway sandwiches
are only five pounds that would not be a problem for them seeing as
all the money they make. As they perform athletic feats, they detail
what they would love to have on their sandwiches, and end the
commercial with, Subway, where winners eat. This pushes people
into eating at subways because seeing that athletes are eating
somewhere that isnt classed as high end would make them feel
worthy or better about themselves this causes people envy because
they want to be classed as winners and outdo the celebrity athletes
in the advertisement by buying their sandwich of choice. Another
example is brad pitt advertising Chanel perfume, in the advert a
black and white photograph of Brad Pitt standing at the door way of
what looks to be a balcony, wearing a tuxedo and holding a drink. A
bottle of Chanel No. 5 is superimposed over the image. This causes
Consumers to feel they can imitate Brad's sexual attractiveness by
wearing Chanel no. 5. So it is important for companies to use
celebrities because that is how people can identify with the product
meaning that when celebrities are used that people like and look up
they feel like they want to support the person they love by buying
the products that they are using.
Advertisers have known for

many years that the image of a

celebrity can help sell products.
A study carried out by Mirre Stallen and a team of Dutch researchers
showed why famous faces sell. In the study they found that when
young women were exposed to images of shoes paired with faces of
celebrities verses non famous women, the area of their brains
involved in processing emotional stimuli were more likely to become
activated meaning that the positive feelings toward certain
celebrities that people have will be shifted into positive feeling for
the shoes they also found that memory for the shoes that were
paired with celebrities was also better that for the shoes paired with
non celebrities, this shows that when a celebrity is used people are

more likely to remember the product when they are shopping

compared to when someone who is not famous is advertising the
product.
Generally accepted in advertising is the saying that "what is
beautiful is good," and the use of attractive celebrities and models is
the norm. This is why companies use
good-looking people when selling
because showing physical
attractiveness of a person in an ad
increases consumers believability
and willingness to purchase, attitude
towards the product and the actual
purchase. Celebrities play a very big
part in the buying of products
because of their role in society and
their influence on people.
Sigmund Freud was one of the most
influential people of the twentieth
century well know for how he
explored the unconscious mind, He
argued that the mind had 3 levels,
the conscious, preconscious and the
subconscious where all human urges
and desires are located this can effect peoples choices and
behaviour even if they are unaware. So when a celebrity appears in
an advert the unconscious mind latches on making the product
already take a positive turn. Those in power adopted Sigmund
Freuds theory to alter them in order to manipulate the mind of the
masses. Psychoanalysis is the method of treating mental disorders it
is believed that psychological problems are rooted in the
unconscious mind. Edward Bernays used the idea of psychoanalysis
to make people want things they dont really need by linking mass
produced goods to their unconscious desires and out of this came a
new political idea of how to control the masses.
Freuds nephew Edward Bernays felt that manipulation was
necessary in society an example of how Bernays succeeded in his
persuasion was when he was given the task to convince women that
smoking was liberating and passed. Bernays was the author of the
book Propaganda, where he wrote:
We are governed, our minds are molded, and our tastes
formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never
heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our
democratic society is organized

This quote shows Bernays views on how people

are manipulated to a point where they are
unaware of just how deep it runs in the human
mind, he suggests that even our thoughts and
beliefs are not our own but of someone that has
no part in our life. It implies that the way every
human on this earth is living will always have
been controlled whether it is by every decision,
every idea or every action they have ever had, we
are unaware of this as society wants to make
people feel unique and different but in reality
every ones ideas have been formed by the
invisible government. People believe that when
they see something and like it thats them their
style but it could not have come about without you having seen it
somewhere or on a celebrity they look up to. Writer Jonathan
Lethem said that when people call something original nine out of
ten times its because they dont know the original sources involved.
The idea of everything that needs to be said has already been said
comes into advertising as well we hear adverts repeating the same
concept but approaching it differently.

Maslow's hierarchy
of needs is a
description of the
needs that motivate
human behavior. In
1943, Abraham
Maslow proposed five different kinds of human needs, beginning
with the most basic: survival. Physiological needs, such as food and
shelter Maslow believed that these needs were instinctive, are
followed by needs related to safety. Next, there are needs of love
and belonging. Fourth, humans have needs of esteem, such as the
need for being respected. The final need in the hierarchy is the need
for self-actualization (fulfilling one's potential). The hierarchy
suggests that basic needs must be met prior too less basic needs;
for example, a starving person will seek food before selfactualization.
Esteem needs is near the top of Maslows hierarchy of needs

pyramid people want to feel important, like they are apart of an

exclusive group that is why advertising uses Were not for
everyone. Making it clear that they are targeting a specific
audience, which tends to give a person social recognition and
accomplishment it gets the mind working because you then
automatically try telling yourself you are apart of those few people
they are directing it towards just so you fit in and dont feel like an
outcast which links in with the idea of social needs the need to
belong, to be accepted.
Its important to understand that the world we are living in is one
where people are easily influenced our social life is not real anymore
people are more focused on how it looks like, how they look, what
were wearing, what were surrounded by and this goes to show that
people can no longer enjoy the good things about life. Celebrities do
have a massive role in advertising but most importantly in our lives
people live to see celebrities in person and that is classed as an
achievement.

Bibliography
http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/9843/volumes/v20/NA20
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Propaganda/Propaganda_Bernays.
html
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/bernprop.html
http://www.examiner.com/article/the-kim-kardashian-effect-americas-obession-with-beauty
http://newmediawarrior.net/2012/04/how-advertising-techniquespersuade-your-subconscious-mind/
http://www.fastcompany.com/3032675/hit-the-ground-running/5psychological-tactics-marketers-use-to-influence-consumer-behavior
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/08/why-goodadvertising-works-even-when-you-think-it-doesnt/244252/