Celebrities and Ads

Just as there have always been celebrities in advertisements (what Danesi calls “real-life advertising”), with the growth of social media and celebrities having accounts on those sites as well, companies have changed to incorporate celebrity accounts into their advertising. Instead of celebrities coming to them, for example in the form of celeb appearances on TV ads, the company will have their product sent to celebrities to feature directly onto their account and straight to their followers.

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With over 88.7 million followers on Instagram, Kim Kardashian has a huge audience that advertisers can exploit, which is exactly what Sugar Bear Hair does in this particular post from Kim K. Sugar Bear Hair paid for Kim K. to feature their product, vitamins, on her Instagram account, despite the fact that she may or may not use the product herself. She endorses the product and gives it a sort of “credibility” to her followers, which in turn makes them want to buy the product for themselves. Here, we see celebrities being commoditized by companies, except in a different way by using social media. Rather than advertising on TV, where the audience might not know of or be a fan of the celebrity featured, on social media the audience willingly follows that celebrity, which gives the celeb, and therefore the advertisers, the power to influence what they see. It’s particular to note that the hashtag #ad is written in Kim K.’s post, to let her followers know when a product is being advertised.