Celebrity Endorsements for Retail and Restaurant Chains
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When Jared Fogle, the longtime spokesperson who single-handedly helped create a "healthy fast food" brand image for the Subway restaurant chain, pleaded guilty to child pornography charges and traveling across state lines to have sex with teenage girls, the precarious nature of celebrity endorsements in the U.S. retail industry was reinforced.When the image of a celebrity matches the image of a retail company, chain or restaurant, like it seemingly did with Fogle and Subway, the endorsement can be a hit on both sides of the advertising equation. But the Subway spokesperson scandal illustrated clearly that even a longtime celebrity endorsement hit can quickly become a miss when the image of the endorser or the endorsed goes amiss.
Retail companies, restaurants and chains are generally less likely to choose a celebrity endorsement strategy as a brand-building strategy compared to individual product marketing campaigns which often take use a celebrity-centered endorsement strategy. The reason is because while promotions for the latest and greatest products come and go, retail companies, stores, and restaurant chainsendure.
Even though Subway hopes that its customers forgive and forget its association with Jared, the Subway brand image will be at least a little bit tainted until entire generations of Subway commercial viewers lose their long-term memory about the shocking revelation that an "all-American" restaurant chain built its business using a spokesperson who was allegedly using his Subway celebrity to victimize children in a most unappetizing way.
What follows is a comprehensive list of famous sports, music, television, and movie stars who have endorsed US retailers in the 20th and 21st century television, print, radio, and online advertising campaigns. Viewing the list of celebrity endorsers for each company reveals the type of brand image the retailer was attempting to cultivate, and the customer demographics it was attempting to appeal to.
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