The Idea Blog

“These days, it’s nearly impossible to surf the Internet, open a newspaper or magazine, or watch television without seeing a celebrity selling something, whether it’s umbrellas, soda, cars, phones, medications, cosmetics, jewelry, clothing or even mutual funds.”

So says an article in today’s NY Times about a rise in the number and power of celebrity endorsements for products and services.

“With consumers facing so many choices these days, an emotional connection with a certain celebrity may make the difference between whether a shopper’s hand stops over one product or moves on to the competition.”

I bought a new 3-wood at a Titleist/Cobra demo day this weekend. The first thing out of the mouth of the on-site rep was: Rocco had one of these in his bag last week. And Freddy’s been playing with one all year. So does it matter who’s using it? Not so much to me. The greatest value of a celebrity being associated with a product is that it can help get it noticed. Then the product has to be worthy of your attention, not Will Smith’s.