Brand Endorsements by Film Stars-Boon or Bane?
Stars these days are selling everything from a hair oil to jewellery,but what does this mean to both us and the stars.I would like to talk about it from both star and the consumer perspectives.
Lets see this first from Stars' perspectives:
Firstly it benefits in terms of money which helps them in two ways.Primarily since the nature of their profession is so fickle that its always good to earn pots of money while the going is good.Unlike other professions they dont' get much chances of rectifying their mistakes and also sometimes they dont' commit mistakes at all but lose out due to sheer bad luck.We always wonder how some stars could not succeed in spite of being hugely talented-what does a star do if the movie is poorly made in spite of the star pitching a good performance.What else would explain the success of an Emraan Hashmi over say an Akshay Khanna or Neil Nitin Mukesh who are far more talented.
It also helps them in choosing better movies.Earlier when movies were the only bread and butter of the stars they used to sign some atrocious movies too just to make money,even if they very well knew that the movie is not going to work.Now since they make so much through endorsements too they can take care of the quality aspect and also get involved in other parts of film making and also promote small movies by acting in them
Secondly,it also helps them connecting with the fans by being exposed to them on a day to day basis that too talking about products they use in their daily lives like hair oil,soaps etc which makes the audience feel closer to the stars that they feel a connect to the stars that they are also like them talking about basic things."Out of sight is out of mind" adage works very well in entertainment industry and brand endorsements make sure that it is not the case with these stars.But of course they should not over do it because this over exposure can also backfire as they may not go to see the stars in theatre and they should not forget that its the movies which lead to endorsements and not the other way round
Now how does it is good for us?
Firstly we get to see stars more often which is good for a movie crazy nation like us.Specially in the interiors movies still are the most dominant form of entertainment as they don't' have malls,lounges and other entertainment avenues so there is regular exposure to stars on their television sets and in cities too we are star struck and it also benefits us in form of better movies since as mentioned earlier stars pay more attention to their quality of movies and we are the ultimate beneficiaries
Secondly,many people in India dont' know reading and cant read the film magazines or newspaper supplements but they have access to television and hence the connect between the fan and the star.Its not possible for stars to come to interiors in spite of their willingness due to security issues but their fans can see them on TV selling almost everything they use
The third point which I want to mention may sound a weird to some but is definitely noteworthy.The endorsements of basic goods by stars like hair oil,soaps,soft drinks,pens have led us paying more attention to our day to day goods.Think of this-did we pay too much attention to which soap we are using or which pen we are using or which toothpaste we are using,we only researched for buying bigger products like a car or a washing machine or a television set but stars endorsing these products have made us paying attention to these goods too which is finally good for our grooming only.
A star endorsing a brand does add a credibility to a product though they don't' always necessarily go for worthy brands but they do pay much more attention to a brand than an average model because in the latter's case his/her image will not get affected if the product is bad.But if an Amitabh Bacchan or Shahrukh Khan sell a bad product their audience will feel cheated which can affect their star status too
Product endorsements have indeed come a long way from being limited to a few stars to a scenario where almost every star even the mid rung ones are doing it.In early days the star endorsements were mostly for Lux and some brands here and there.Then in 1980s Dharmendra did some endorsements like Rajdoot and Bagpiper and Vinod Khanna endorsed Cinthol. But they were far in between.In fact, Amitabh Bacchan also started it post his sabbatical.But now even character actors like Irrfan Khan,Boman Irani and Paresh Rawal are also getting good endorsements which shows how much evolved it has become.
To conclude,I do feel its a boon and not bane for both us and the stars
Lets see this first from Stars' perspectives:
Firstly it benefits in terms of money which helps them in two ways.Primarily since the nature of their profession is so fickle that its always good to earn pots of money while the going is good.Unlike other professions they dont' get much chances of rectifying their mistakes and also sometimes they dont' commit mistakes at all but lose out due to sheer bad luck.We always wonder how some stars could not succeed in spite of being hugely talented-what does a star do if the movie is poorly made in spite of the star pitching a good performance.What else would explain the success of an Emraan Hashmi over say an Akshay Khanna or Neil Nitin Mukesh who are far more talented.
It also helps them in choosing better movies.Earlier when movies were the only bread and butter of the stars they used to sign some atrocious movies too just to make money,even if they very well knew that the movie is not going to work.Now since they make so much through endorsements too they can take care of the quality aspect and also get involved in other parts of film making and also promote small movies by acting in them
Secondly,it also helps them connecting with the fans by being exposed to them on a day to day basis that too talking about products they use in their daily lives like hair oil,soaps etc which makes the audience feel closer to the stars that they feel a connect to the stars that they are also like them talking about basic things."Out of sight is out of mind" adage works very well in entertainment industry and brand endorsements make sure that it is not the case with these stars.But of course they should not over do it because this over exposure can also backfire as they may not go to see the stars in theatre and they should not forget that its the movies which lead to endorsements and not the other way round
Now how does it is good for us?
Firstly we get to see stars more often which is good for a movie crazy nation like us.Specially in the interiors movies still are the most dominant form of entertainment as they don't' have malls,lounges and other entertainment avenues so there is regular exposure to stars on their television sets and in cities too we are star struck and it also benefits us in form of better movies since as mentioned earlier stars pay more attention to their quality of movies and we are the ultimate beneficiaries
Secondly,many people in India dont' know reading and cant read the film magazines or newspaper supplements but they have access to television and hence the connect between the fan and the star.Its not possible for stars to come to interiors in spite of their willingness due to security issues but their fans can see them on TV selling almost everything they use
The third point which I want to mention may sound a weird to some but is definitely noteworthy.The endorsements of basic goods by stars like hair oil,soaps,soft drinks,pens have led us paying more attention to our day to day goods.Think of this-did we pay too much attention to which soap we are using or which pen we are using or which toothpaste we are using,we only researched for buying bigger products like a car or a washing machine or a television set but stars endorsing these products have made us paying attention to these goods too which is finally good for our grooming only.
A star endorsing a brand does add a credibility to a product though they don't' always necessarily go for worthy brands but they do pay much more attention to a brand than an average model because in the latter's case his/her image will not get affected if the product is bad.But if an Amitabh Bacchan or Shahrukh Khan sell a bad product their audience will feel cheated which can affect their star status too
Product endorsements have indeed come a long way from being limited to a few stars to a scenario where almost every star even the mid rung ones are doing it.In early days the star endorsements were mostly for Lux and some brands here and there.Then in 1980s Dharmendra did some endorsements like Rajdoot and Bagpiper and Vinod Khanna endorsed Cinthol. But they were far in between.In fact, Amitabh Bacchan also started it post his sabbatical.But now even character actors like Irrfan Khan,Boman Irani and Paresh Rawal are also getting good endorsements which shows how much evolved it has become.
To conclude,I do feel its a boon and not bane for both us and the stars
Comments
Post a Comment