celeb-reality

I wrote this blog a couple of months ago for my company's blog. If you want to read it with all links intact, click here.

I’m not sure when it happened, but Americans have become obsessed with celebrity culture. These days there seem to be more tabloids than legit newspapers in any given market. There are even popular blogs devoted solely to celebrity gossip such as perezhilton.com and thesuperficial.com, which, I admit, I check on a daily basis.

Companies are noticing this love affair that America has with celebrities and they are starting to try to use it to their advantage. In the past, American celebrities would only do commercials in foreign countries because they said that they wanted to keep their professional image in the US. Many celebrities are now capitalizing by endorsing products in the US and companies are hoping that everyday Americans will connect with their product because of their adoration for the celebrity advertising it. In a recent episode of 30 Rock on NBC, they made light of this situation. Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) explained to a recently broke Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) that to make enough money to keep from losing his house all he had to do was find a product to put his name on and it would sell. It didn’t matter what the product was because the product wasn’t what was being sold. What was being sold was Tracy’s name and image. Jack told him that people would buy him, not the product. Tracy came back with The Tracy Jordan Meat Machine. Hey George-isn’t imitation the greatest form of flattery??

I can’t help but wonder why the sudden change of heart? Why do the celebrities do it? Is it for the money? I thought they were all about remaining professional. Did they sell out? Or is it more that they want, in a way, to sell themselves? Celebrities have an image that they project to the world. This image has evolved into their brand. When you really think about it, a celebrity is a brand. You have your Tara Reids and Julia Roberts. Why else would they have so many agents, hairdressers and P.R. Reps? By doing commercials and being broadcast across the country on a daily basis they are trying to further their own brand. Plus, they have to find some way to pay for their million dollar homes.

I recently read an article on AdAge.com about a new commercial that Kevin Federline (yes, you heard me right) is doing for Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. that will be aired during Super Bowl XLI. My first reaction to this news was laughter. If celebrities are brands, then to me he is synonymous to a K-Mart shoe. I don’t see how Federline could be a good spokesman for an insurance company. To me, the match seems way off. Then it hit me. It’s all about face time for both parties, Nationwide and Federline.

According to the AdAge.com article, Nationwide is hoping for a repeat of the $7.2 million media frenzy they received after last year’s Fabio Super Bowl commercial. It got 158 million impressions and generated over 500 media stories. I think that Nationwide knows Federline is a household name all across America and by using him in their ad people will pay attention to it. People are drawn to watching Federline just like they are drawn to watching a train wreck. You know you shouldn’t but you do anyway. On the other half of this match up, Federline is out to make a name for himself. What better way to get face time then to be on TV during the Super Bowl?

All the negativity aimed at Federline lately makes me think that maybe we should all throw him a bone. Perhaps he isn’t as clueless as we think. He did manage to land a high profile commercial and this is a good example of how celebrities (or in this case wanna-be celebrities) are using advertising to extend their own branded image and get their name in the press. Even if it’s obvious that Nationwide is using his status to get a laugh out of the American public, he is willing to be the butt of the joke just to be included with the big kids. It’s a hard knock life being Britney Spears’ baby daddy.