Athletes and celebrities are used in advertisements and commercials all the time to try and promote products to make people buy them. More than likely, they probably don't even use the product or service and are just getting paid by the company to promote it. Now with this PSA, it features LeBron James from the NBA; he's probably one of the most well known athletes in sports today and people will probably listen to what he is saying. With this ad, he is promoting kids in high school to not drop out and just be another statistic. If he was one of those students that dropped out, then he wouldn't be where he is today and no one would know who he was. I like this ad because they used an athlete that everyone knows and probably respects. And I feel that young kids respect him because of what he does on the court and want to grow up to be like him so they are going to listen to what he was to say.
Although this is a good ad and it reflects a positive message I overall believe that using athletes in advertisements can be very risky. Athletes are meant to be great role models where people look up to them so in theory it sounds like a great idea to have them be the face of a companies product. However, because the expectation for athletes is so high there is very little room for personal error and that can be risky for companies. Think of Michael Phelps and the incident with his bong use. Companies dropped him left and right because he lost his credibility and there was a great risk that his face connected to their products would show a drop in sales.
Athletes are becoming a product themselves. Its like two products are coming at us rather than one. Even though athletes will add that extra edge to a product, the athlete themselves will have to have a solid image themselves. Also, consumers will be mesmerized by these athletes because they love them and look up to them so much. Sometimes its a can't miss opportunity and using a high profile athlete can make any product look amazing.
I think that using athletes in advertising is a great idea. I think that in a commercial like this one it is especially important to use an athlete that high schoolers would look up to. Since a high school education is must it is important for students to see that they can succeed just like Lebron did. I can see where Tulin is coming from by saying that it can be risky because if or when these famous icons mess up (Tiger Woods) it can have a huge impact on the product/service they represent and what they stand for. But over all I think that it is important in advertising to seek out those celebrities/athletes that people look up to so that they can sell your product for you.
Although this is a good ad and it reflects a positive message I overall believe that using athletes in advertisements can be very risky. Athletes are meant to be great role models where people look up to them so in theory it sounds like a great idea to have them be the face of a companies product. However, because the expectation for athletes is so high there is very little room for personal error and that can be risky for companies. Think of Michael Phelps and the incident with his bong use. Companies dropped him left and right because he lost his credibility and there was a great risk that his face connected to their products would show a drop in sales.
ReplyDeleteAthletes are becoming a product themselves. Its like two products are coming at us rather than one. Even though athletes will add that extra edge to a product, the athlete themselves will have to have a solid image themselves. Also, consumers will be mesmerized by these athletes because they love them and look up to them so much. Sometimes its a can't miss opportunity and using a high profile athlete can make any product look amazing.
ReplyDeleteI think that using athletes in advertising is a great idea. I think that in a commercial like this one it is especially important to use an athlete that high schoolers would look up to. Since a high school education is must it is important for students to see that they can succeed just like Lebron did. I can see where Tulin is coming from by saying that it can be risky because if or when these famous icons mess up (Tiger Woods) it can have a huge impact on the product/service they represent and what they stand for. But over all I think that it is important in advertising to seek out those celebrities/athletes that people look up to so that they can sell your product for you.
ReplyDelete