Accenture, the giant consulting firm, ended its 6 year marketing relationship with Tiger Woods on Sunday, showing once again that in advertising as in sports, there are no sure things after the exposure of his series of extra marrital affairs. Following Accenture, it seems now other companies have also started ending their contracts with Woods. Companies like Gillette, AT&T, PepsiCo, EA Sports and Nike have also stopped their contracts with WOODS.
Earlier this year, Kellogg dropped its sponsorship of Michael Phelps, the gold-medal swimmer, after he was photographed using a marijuana pipe at a party. In 2003, Nutella and McDonald’s ended their deals with Kobe Bryant after he was accused of sexual assault in Colorado; the charges were eventually dropped.
I just want to ask you people this that will celebrity endorsements take a hit after Tiger Woods scandal?
In business, credibility means a lot and honesty means a lot, and Accenture wants to be a company that can be trusted. Obviously Tiger Woods did some things that betrayed the trust of people who were close to him, and now organisations would surely distant themselves from him.
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Jayant Vishnu, Art Director/Sr Art Director, Creative12 17 2009 08:22:37 +0000
celebrity endorsements wont actually take any hit just due to tiger wood scandal. Every celebrity is associated with certain aspect of quality and that is how people perceive them. even different segment of people are more associated with different kind of celebrities and the corporates wants to go for a appropriate mass appeal approach. But this celebrity endorsements are not for a very long time. One celeb stays till a certain span of time when he/she is delivering the best and then it fades out soon as well. And due to this corporate houses also keeps on changing its endorsements as and when required.
A trusted company like Accenture should have first enquired about the personal life style before going for the endorsement.
As far as the example of Kellogs and other companies are concerned, it is a part and parcel of celeb endorsement. Ideally the celeb endorsements should not be based on a long term contract and can be renewed if found genuine for the benefit for the company.
Must tell you Jayant, its a nice observation & hence a very nice debate.
Well I think the companies won't stop endorsing celebrities; neither the show will go off but its the celebrities, that having a promiscuous character will get a hit as the companies now will surely investigate the chances of such an exposure before pouring money on any celeb.
Secondly, if its a fame then there will always be rumors & controversies, whatsoever it is and then again media has their own interests & duties.
Still, I don't know for sure about this hit factor, but for some people in this elite strata, its not the right time for romance with other than one's spouse!!!!!!!!!
Yes if the codes of ad governing bodies interfere with the public image of celeb ,then brands are likely to withdraw.Brands want increase in sales with such endorsements and not QA rounds
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SUMEET DIKSHIT, Real Estate Transactions & Advisory, Real Estate
| 12 18 2009 14:09:18 +0000
Celebrity endorsements will take a hit in postive manner.....As this is sex scandal so the celebrities falling in this category can be asked to endorse stuff like VIAGRA and etcetra. This is how the commerce moves and the advantage can be taken by the companies.It is quite uncommon for indian media but this is usual for the US media and they don't shirk in accepting the realities. So even Bill Clinton can be asked to endorse.
Do I speak lie .....No
By
Manish Grover, Account Manager , Impressico Business Solutions Pvt Ltd
| 12 18 2009 10:58:36 +0000
It depends upon organization, if you are a highly ethical company and you give more importance to values and business ethics then surely your association with these kinds of celebrity and partners hampers your organization's brand image when they do something which is unethical or unacceptable to society.
You organization's brand image has been build upon values & ethics and consumer and society feels your associations with others are also on the same line.
It is just like how consumers/ societies is giving more importance to environment. If they know that company's business process / manufacturing process spoils environment then they boycott buying products manufactured by these kinds of organization. After emergence of Social Network consumers are more aware and they give more value & importance to business ethics.
I think celebrity endorsement value will take a hit if they do they something which is unacceptable to society and not properly aligned with organization’s brand image.
Celebrity endorsements often happen because the brand has some VALID integrations with the concerned celeb. Its the attribute, attitude or even the nature of business that reflects in the endorsement reasons.
They are also BIG INFLUENCERS and influence buying decisions. Though it is really not integral to all brands that are in the eye of the media and public at large, endorsement by celeb does have its own charm and thrill for a fan. If the celebrity decides to behave differently it is s direct reflection on the brand and its representations. Ultimately its the corporate that is bearing the brunt of the falliable nature of human beings.
Media is what media does and celebrity is what celebrity does!! Hand in glove!!!
It is definitely going to hit the endorsements business and effectively SAVE SOME MEGA BUCKS FOR THE BRAND WHICH CAN BE USED IN EFFECTIVE CONSUMER INTERACTION AND ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMS!!
As usual a brilliant point to debate Jayant! :)
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Makrand Bhave, AGM - Corporate Business, E18, part of Network 18 Group
| 12 17 2009 08:55:47 +0000
Tiger Woods scandal will not hit the celebrity endorsement with much of impact in the world of endorsement as it is not yet a common affair. Even if the immediate effect might be seen, but that would not suffise to change the mindset of big ad agencies to endorse more celebrities in their promotion of product branding.
As far as Tiger Wood's case is concerned, it was more the background of his personal life, that hampers the brand image of the corresponding product or company, but in no means, exceptions can be generalise. 1 or 2 exceptions will not affect the larger picture, atleast not right now, even if a portion of the common people's perception does take a swing in negative side.
So the crux is, even if this single incident at all affects or hit the celebrity endorsement, it will hardly make any impact in the same in a larger scale.
If it does it will b great for Consumers. (& tat won’t happen)
& It it doesn’t that will be great for Celebrities (are there any celebrities in toostep!)
Celebrity Endorsements help companies to establish credibility, PR, Recall & infusing a fresh life to a Brand. So in case of Tiger, Accenture won’t come back with Tiger (W), but will surely change the forest (field of interest) in search of another Tiger or Lion. Accenture took calculative risk as there was mismatch between values & ethics of their brand with Tiger. Accenture turnover in 2009 is more than £13bn (High Performance Delivered by Tiger Woods)
Pepsi Cola's suffered with three tarnished celebrities - Mike Tyson, Madonna, and Michael Jackson. Since the behaviour of the celebrities reflects on the brand, celebrity endorsers may at times become liabilities to the brands they endorse. And on the other sides we cannot forget Kareena Kapoor, Shah Rukh Khan (past), Ranbir, Deepika, Katrina, Vijender, & half of Indian Team. So they have lot of options at least in India.
Just think if Junior AB uses Airtel or Reliance or Tata or Hutch. (What Idea will do?)
But it’s in the hands of company how they give the shape to their Brand with other Brand (Celebrity).
"A sign of a celebrity is that his name is often worth more than his services.” Daniel J Boorstin
No. i don't think it will happen. after all private life of any indivisual whether a celebrity/common man should not be made public and should not be deemed for any kind of action there on!! can we believe the sponsoring firm is as holy as BIBLE in its day to day business??
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jairaj shyam prasad, Production Manager, BOSCH Ltd
| 12 19 2009 13:09:06 +0000
I don't think it will "effect" the celebrity endorsements because scandals are just a part of their life... whether its true or just a rumor that's not a big deal for celebs cause they are prepared for it. The universal truth is that celebrities do effect the market value of any commodity and if the image of the celeb is clear the market will worship like anything and if it has something like "confirmed controversy" like Woods then the market will make itself aloof of the matter and will seek for better options. one more thing that fans and those who follow these celebs like anything have nothing to do with what these people are associated with because for them they are the role-models. the memory of these fans is not more than "GHAJINI".everything will be fine again as before... just an apology for what has happened and the market is ready for the endorsement by the controversial celebs like woods again. just wait and watch .
By
monika , News Editor, etv news
| 12 18 2009 18:23:52 +0000
According to me,celebrity endorsement wont be affected.Because mass cant be judged by one or two's action.Ther is no question of bad impression of companies who are taking these celebrities for endorsement.Companies will keep on taking them,if betwen them someone will be alleged for ill action,then only those will be suffered,there is no issue of taking all into same account.
By
roumi chatterjee, asst commercial executive, century plyboard india ltd
| 12 18 2009 10:31:52 +0000
Why should the celeb endorsement get affected for one person?
A person becomes a celeb because he has a nuisance value, if that value in reality starts getting to be a nuisance, then the celeb may no more endorse that particular brand. For Tiger Woods the media had a good time washing his linen in public, similarly Clinton episode was also there but later with time, his value was not reduced, it was simply a matter of time which may be a good healer, but a bad beautician.
And as Makrand has said Brand value and Celeb Value are both essential to create the Impact for product endorsements.
By
Shiuli Mukherji, Head Strategy Plan- , Region SEA
| 12 18 2009 06:43:41 +0000
nah, if his/her's public image is good and he can help sell the product then why bother about others. may be tiger wood's episode does make a minor dent,that's only for a short while.
It is hard to believe organisations didn't know about Wood's private life affairs before it was exposed publicly. Still they were doing business with him since he was a very good "profit source" for them. Only after so much of media hype, they took back the contracts to protect their company reputation. But I don't think this will happen with other celebrities till media hypes them since they are very good source of income for organisations...
Does automobile sector need a PUBLICITY STUNT?? I just don't think so.. as Mr. Virag said it can be more of demand-supply gap..nothing more. Everyone is too much into buying new vehicles that they just don't need any other marketing .. Just perisitant...
It is a great chance for all of us , a reason to quit smoking. It is like a motivation because we are suppose to dedicate our act of quitting to our loved ones. We all know how harmful smoking is and all the smokers know how difficult is it to quit....
With the IPL and the World Cup coming....marketers are gearing up for the battle to win their customers. The fight will get tensed and crowded with customers left will many options. So, what according to you will be the biggest event on TV??
