Funny Business
- Facebook: The Song — Yes, We're Serious
- How to Succeed Through Blackmail
- Facebook's Miraculous Powers
- Facebook's $12 Billion Gift to California?
- Need a Job? Best and Worst Degrees for 2012 College Grads
- Regretting That Sext You Just Sent? There's an App for That
- How Far Some Parents Will Go to Get a Job - For Their Kids
MOST SHARED
- JPMorgan Dips into Cookie Jar to Offset "London Whale" Losses
- European Shares Buoyed by China Stimulus Hopes
- As Irish Head to Polls, ‘No’ Voices Get Louder
- Shell Puts Alberta Oil Sands Project on the Block
- Euro Isn’t Loved, but Few Want to Drop It, Poll Says
- US Law Firm Dewey Files for Chapter 11, Seeks Liquidation
- U.S. Winds Down Longer Benefits for the Unemployed
- Glitches Halt New Goldman Trade Platform
- China Moves to Tame Microbloggers
- Funds Cut Exposure to Euro Zone Banks
- A New Look at the ‘New Poor’
- Six Pack: Beer Buzz of the Week
- Greek Exit Could Trigger 50% Fall in Euro Stocks: Analyst
- Under Pressure, FHA Skews to Wealthier Home Buyers
- Big Stock Upside for Hudson City Deal: Analyst
- 5 High-Yield Stocks Ready to Boost Dividends
- Yoshikami: Four Things You Need to Know About Gold Now
- Steinbock: The Euro Zone Endgame Begins
- Option Bulls Take Another Shot on Idenix
- JPMorgan Sells Good Assets to Offset 'London Whale'
- Euro Zone Bank Safety Net Leaves Holes Unplugged
- Glitches Halt New Goldman Trade Platform
- Greece Pours $22.6 Billion Into Its Four Biggest Banks
- Funds Cut Exposure to Euro Zone Banks
- US Markets Will Be Watching Europe—And Jobs Report
- As Irish Head to Polls, ‘No’ Voices Get Louder
- Emerging Markets to Test Lehman Lows on 'Grexit'
- Spain's Debt Costs Near Danger Level: Is Bailout Next?
RSS FEED
Do Celebrity Endorsements Really Work?
Text Size 
CNBC Correspondent
When I interviewed Eric Wisemen, CEO of VF Corp [VFC
Loading...
()
], at the ICR Xchange retail conference in Orange County, I asked him if it was difficult for one of his company's brands, Wrangler, to stand by Brett Favre after the football legend's sexting scandal.
"Brett's been terrific for our brand for a long period of time. He speaks to the Wrangler consumer," Wiseman told me, before adding, "We're obviously figuring out where to go from here."
(You can watch the full interview here.)He might want to read a study by Ace Metrix which suggests that celebrity endorsements can do more harm than good.
"Our study of more than 2,600 ads found that—contrary to popular wisdom—celebrity ads do not perform any better than non-celebrity ads, and in some cases they perform much worse," the report state.
This news could save corporate America a lot of marketing money.
 |
Getty Images Tiger Woods |
], the one where Woods is staring into the camera as you hear the voice of his father. Nobody liked it, regardless of gender or age. Coming in second, Lance Armstrong's ad for Radio Shack called "No Emoticons" (um, Radio Shack is never mentioned), followed by Kenny Mayne for Gillette, Dale Earnhardt Jr., for Nationwide Auto Insurance, and Donald Trump's ad for Macy's [M
Loading...
()
] called "Making Timmy a Mogul".
Some celebrity ads do work.
"Across the board, the celebrity with the best performance was Oprah Winfrey," says Ace Metrix. But Oprah did not appear in any commercials to push products. Instead, she was part of public service announcements against texting while driving. For pure advertising, some ads which scored well involved celebrities used in the right context: Troy Polamalu for Head & Shoulders, Betty White and Aretha Franklin for Snickers, Carl Weathers for Bud Light (does anyone under 40 remember Apollo Creed? Does Weathers still qualify as a celebrity?).
Most of the time, however, Ace Metrix says celebrity ads scored worse with viewers than ads for the same products without celebrities—on average 9 points lower. Even extremely popular celebrities—like Peyton Manning getting on Jim Nantz's case for lack of production in an ad for Sony [
Loading...
()
]—scored below average with viewers. So did Beyonce being ignored by the guy who prefers watching her on his Vizio set.
No wonder she walks off upset.
Questions? Comments? Funny Stories? Email
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
