Celebrities as symbolic commodities in the film industry

Celebrities as Symbolic Commodities in the Film Industry

In 2010 the biggest advertisements and movies have a celebrity face. If a celebrity endorses it, then consumers will buy it. Has society lost the scope of what the product does, what it stands for? On the other hand when it comes to film and its success, there are certain expectations when you hear a celebrity name being associated with a film. There is a certain amount of success that is anticipated when a celebrity name is mentioned, therefore there is a direct relationship between celebrities and the commodities that they have become in movies, advertisements etc. Corliss (2000) confirmed that celebrities are branding commodities that bring one more element and, in the right mix, the crucial one to the marketing of an expensive product; because studio executives are people who want the insurance and reassurance of a known name.

Hunt (2001) explained that Consumers tend to perceive the celebrity as projecting source characteristics that are then used in the evaluation of an advertisement and the product being promoted. Source characteristics involve attributes such as the familiarity of the endorser, their likeability, their similarity to the consumer, and the fit of their image with the image of the product. Source credibility, in particular, involves three dimensions: trustworthiness, expertise, and attractiveness. Trustworthiness is, generally considered the major dimension underlying source credibility. It refers to the consumer's confidence in the source for providing information in an objective and honest manner. Expertise is also considered a major dimension of source credibility. Expertise is the extent to which a communicator is perceived to be a source of valid assertions. Endorsers will be perceived as having the most expertise when they endorse products or services related to them. Physically attractive communicators are more successful in changing beliefs than are unattractive communicators.

Turner (2004) reports that celebrity is an industry that creates highly visible products that most people buy at one time or another and which play a significant part in our everyday lives. It is also an industry that spends a great deal of its time masking the fact that it exists at all. The point of publicity and promotion is to turn advertising into news; to provide free editorial coverage of an event, person, or cause.

Celebrities have been analyzed from a number of viewpoints. In addition to the multitude of journalistic accounts, scholars have considered celebrities from the perspectives of history, cultural criticism, power elites, contemporary politics, cultural sociology, religion, and cultural studies. Celebrities are part of a status or prestige system; while some draw parallels between celebrities and other kinds of phenomena; no one systematically relates celebrities and celebrity culture to a more general analysis of status systems (Milner, 2005). Celebrities' people who are, well-known for their well celebrity are more distinguished than ever. Once they raise to national or global renown, whatever the reason, their fame becomes a kind of capital that can be converted into money or political influence (Robinson, 2007).

In the majority of the research conducted regarding celebrities as a commodity, there is little to no supporting research that has been conducted to make a correlation regarding film. However, there is a plethora of research and documentation that confirm the association between advertisements and the commodity that celebrities have and continue to be, as well as for branding i.e. clothing lines. One concept that has not been considered in great deal is the idea that celebrity itself may not be enough.

Seckler (2005), conducted research regarding branding with clothing labels and celebrities, he expressed that when 250 women and 250 men, ages 18 to 59, chosen from the country's nine census regions, were asked by marketing consultant Brand Keys to rate 50 fashion brands based on whether they represent the values those polled seek in apparel products, only five of the names fell on the high end of the first-time continuum. They were Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Isaac Mizrahi, Victoria's Secret and Donald Trump, earmarked by the respondents as human brands, or those most imbued with the qualities people desire in their apparel, such as style, color and comfort. The researcher went further to state that it is problematic for brands to be perceived as commodities and, to a lesser extent, as labels. Commodity brands need to develop some values quickly unless they just want to be price-driven. Commodities are in danger of becoming the acmes of the 21st century. The commodity-to-human brand continuum reflects the extent to which people ascribe the values they're seeking in apparel to 50 fashion brands. Commodities are at the low end of the scale and human brands are at the high end.

Hunt (2001) reiterates that celebrities can be very effective in the endorsement of products; however, they can also be dangerous. The advantages of using a celebrity are that they can increase attention to and how memorable the ad and product, enhance credibility of the message, and imbue a product with positive image characteristics. The disadvantage, or danger, is that if a celebrity has a negative image, it can be passed on to the product being endorsed. As shown in this study, bed sheets are perceived as ordinary, safe, reliable, and delicate. When advertised by Deion Sanders, however, bed sheets are perceived as unusual, risky, less reliable, and somewhat rugged. This suggests that great care should be taken in selecting a celebrity endorser. The celebrity's image must be taken into account.

The answer lies in what all celebrities have in common: they create a community of watchers who, by paying attention to the same subject, come to share knowledge and experiences with one another. Celebrities furnish a cure, supplanting more time-consuming social platforms like churches and civic clubs. Celebrities have retained their convening power as a basis for shared conversation even as more traditional sources have eroded (Robinson, 2007).

Celebrities are developed to make money .Their names and image are used to market films, CD's, magazines, newspapers, television programs, including the news. The media wants celebrities involved with their projects because they believe this will help them attract audiences. Film producers use celebrities as a means of attracting investments to their projects, marketers use celebrity endorsements as a means of profiling and branding their products, television programs feature guest appearances from celebrities to build their audiences (Turner, 2004).