What Do We Have in Common??

What Do We Have in Common??

What’s in a Name?

Celebrity Endorsements and The Charitable Sector

By: Nora MacLeod

Celebrity Culture

“people want to be associated with a celebrity,

and do so by purchasing the goods or services

or donating money or time to a cause the

celebrity recommends” (Domino, 14)

Recent Story

• Vancouver Sun Article (Oct. 7 2010)• Food Network Chef Ned Bell • Raising funds for breast cancer research • “Celebrity volunteers like Bell are the public face of

a fundraising machine that takes in donor dollars and directs the money into life-saving research.”http://www.vancouversun.com/health/public+face+fundraising/3636064/story.html#ixzz12qPHSHoS

The Connection

• “Celebrities are most effective when their life experience is connected to the message” (Domino, 17)

• Example: Michael J. Fox • Raised awareness for stem cell research

for debilitating diseases (West, 9)• A Credible Celebrity

Young Celebrities

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwC87ZKF1dQ

Targeting a Group

• Justin Bieber brings an audience of young female fans

• Would you want this for your organization? What could be the benefits?

Considerations• Costs – is there any cost to having a

celebrity endorser? • Relevance – are they relevant to the

cause?• Sustainability – is their fame lasting?

Watch out for scandals!• Managing – who will manage the needs

of a celebrity?

What to Make of This?

• “Charities can benefit from celebrity endorsements because stars can bring publicity to a cause by creating an emotional attachment with the public” (The New York Times Magazine, 2008 qtd in Park & Cho)

• Resource: http://www.looktothestars.org/

Discussion

• Who can you think of is directly connected with a cause that they endorse – do you find this lends credibility to the cause?

• Can celebrity endorsement become too overwhelming? Is one celebrity better then many or vice versa?

Works Cited• http://www.raisingfunding.co.uk/celebrity-endorsements-your-fundraising-drive

.html• West,Darrell M. “Angelina, Mia, Bono: Celebrities and International

Development.” Brown University. http://www.brookings.edu/events/2007/~/media/Files/Programs/Global/brookings_blum_roundtable/2007west.pdf

• Domino, Tracie M. “Toward An Integrated Communication Theory For Celebrity Endorsement In Fund Raising.” http://etd.fcla.edu/SF/SFE0000149/Celebrity_Fund_Raising.pdf

• http://www.looktothestars.org• Shore, Randy. “The Public Face of Fundraising.” The Vancouver Sun. Oct. 7

2010. http://www.vancouversun.com/health/public+face+fundraising/3636064/story.html