Celebrity Endorsement in Advertising - Do Celebrities Promise Something Wrong?

Essay from the year 2011 in the subject Communications - Ethics in the Media, grade: 90/96, Lindenwood University, language: English, abstract: In a capitalistic society, it is all about selling. Times are over when there was only one brand to buy. Nowadays, companies have to fight for attention for their products. A price war has emerged, and commercials are a part of it. Advertising agencies shoot for different solutions to market their products. One of these options is using celebrities to endorse cosmetics, beverages, fashion, and much more. The goal hereby is as follows: If a celebrity—whom some people regard as a superior individual—uses a product, it has to be good for everybody else. Hence, consumers will buy. The issue with this is that people believe celebrities, no matter what. Some still think that celebrities know more about life and what products to choose than the average person. Companies do not mind, because their use of celebrities boosts their sales. So is it ethical for a company to use a celebrity’s image to sell products, whether favorable or not, and to sometimes bend the truth by doing so?