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Another reason for the celebrity endorsement to turn against the brand is due to "Overshadowing". This happens when the celebrity is larger than the brand being endorsed. And unfortunately, though the celebrity generates higher levels of attention among viewers, the impression is not always strongly linked to the advertised brand.

Finally, brand may also fail to get noticed given a recent negative publicity of the celebrity endorser. Example: Michael Jordan lost his endorsement deals when he announced in 1991 that he's HIV-positive. It wasn't until July 2003 that he landed his first endorsement deal since the announcement.

7.2. The Solutions

As discussed, celebrity management is very crucial to avoid the brand-celebrity disconnect, and subsequently, brand failures. Proper market research should be carried out and right positioning strategies should be in place. If the consumers have questions in their minds regarding the quality or performance of the product then even God cannot save the brand. There shouldn't be any ambiguity or confusions when showing the celebrity in the advertisement. The obvious solution to the problem of overshadowing is to make sure that both the advertisement and the celebrity are focused on the brand or product. To avoid any bad publicity arising out of celebrity defames, companies may resort to multiple celebrity endorsement. For Example: Pepsi while capitalizing on the popularity of cricket and films in India used several cricketers and film stars in their ads. So when Azharuddin and Jadeja got embroiled in the match-fixing controversy, Pepsi severed its association only with these stars, but its relationship with cricket continued.

7.3. The Symbiotic Model

Based on our understanding of the celebrity endorsement process, we can propose our own model taking cue from the biological kingdom. There are various symbiotic relationships that can exist between two organisms. Similarly, we can visualize two entities "brand" and "celebrity". To achieve a perfect success, there should be absolute symbiosis between the two entities. There may be one of the six effects to the celebrity endorsement process: -

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* Contributed by -
Sohag Sarkar,
IBM Global Services (India) Pvt. Ltd.,
Bhopal (MP).