It is a boon to the marketers that celebrities are a dime a dozen today and they are all available for doing their bit for the marketing of products. The prime question is to find out which celebrities are the most ogled at. And the next question is to find out which part of the celebrity’s persona is most ogled at. The tennis star on a journey to the centre court at Wimbledon could fit the description of a star celebrity in July especially for a company that manufactures sports goods. Nike in its attempt to answer the second question imposed a certain condition on Monica Seles. An excerpt from the net (http://www.anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=11822) is given below :
"In 1997 Monica Seles signed an endorsement deal with Nike. Among the terms of the agreement was a requirement that Seles sport the Nike logo... on her panties!"
There are other issues also that come into play in choosing the right spot for placing the logo. What would happen if an American sportsperson is photographed with the logo of a German company while accepting the highest honours in the field?
An excerpt from the net (http://www.anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=8591) is given below:
"... at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, when Dream Team player Charles Barkley said he had 'two million reasons' not to accept a gold medal while wearing a USA sweatsuit bearing the Reebok logo (it transpired that he was actually getting $4 million that year); diplomacy prevailed in the end when team leader Michael Jordan wore the jacket with a US flag draped over the enemy's logo."
The above only goes to show that the entire exercise of ‘marketing’ is fraught with unexpected problems and the experienced marketer has to negotiate the minefields of controversy with aplomb.
Prof. P. Guha
Globsyn Business School
Globsyn Business School
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