Thesis advisor: Michael Keith / Athletes have become major celebrities within the mass media in modern society. They appear in a wide variety of mediums and advertising campaigns that may or may not be directly related to sports. Their level of fame and popularity has landed many star athletes with multi-million dollar endorsement contracts with companies who want to associate with the athlete’s image and brand. This work attempts to further understand and analyze the role of celebrity athlete endorsers, how companies select and market their athlete spokespeople, and how audiences consume and react to these endorsements. A look at the history of celebrity athlete endorsements provides a basic understanding of how athletes became involved in advertising. This is followed by a close examination of one of the biggest athlete brands of all time: Michael Jordan. Next, certain factors and attributes are discussed that companies look for in an athlete in terms of the importance and affect that they have. This leads to a theories section that applies different lenses to the interactions between celebrity athletes and consumers in an attempt to better understand the relationship. Through these theories, it becomes clear that companies must make strategic decisions in choosing the athlete, the message, and how to connect with their target audience in a way that communicates trust and credibility. Creating a relationship between the celebrity athlete, the product, and the consumer is vital for long-term endorsement success. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Communication.

Práce analyzuje rozdíly v postojích a vnímání reklamy se známou osobností lidmi s vyšším zájmem o svět známých osobností a bulvár. Dále se zabývá vhodností a účinností zapojení známých osobností v reklamě. Dále obsahuje porovnání zapojení celebrit v reklamě formou doporučení (testimonialu) vs. hraní role. V práci je rovněž uvedeno srovnání 18 známých osobností popuární kultury pomocí metody BAV.

Práce se zabývá reklamou, její definicí, výhodami a nevýhodami. Rovněž se věnuje prvku, který se v reklamě používá, a to dporučovatelům. Podrobněji je rozbrána problematika celebrit v reklamě. Zejména se zabývám jejich výběrěm a rizikům, která jsou s nimi spojena. Parktická část se věnuje vlastnímu výzkumu názorů české veřejnosti k reklamám, ve kterých vystupují celebrity.

Celebrity sells. The right of publicity, broadly defined as the inherent right of every individual to control the commercial use of his or her identity, has been well-established in the United States (US) for over fifty years. It protects the associative value that one brings to products and services, and is invoked mainly by celebrities to prevent unauthorised commercial uses of their persona. / There is a wealth of legal literature in the US that discusses a broad range of issues from justifications for the right of publicity to its interaction with freedom of speech under the First Amendment. However, very few contributions have studied the connections between cultural practices and the right of publicity in depth. This dissertation draws on insights pertinent to aspects of right of publicity laws in its evaluation of how the cultural studies literature may contribute to doctrinal development. The usefulness of cultural studies in this inquiry rests in its examination of the roles and meanings of celebrities in contemporary society. / This thesis demonstrates how an appreciation of the production, circulation and consumption of the celebrity personality can be incorporated into an analytical framework. It argues that what we generally call ‘celebrity’ is a collective product of the celebrity individual, the audience and the cultural producers. Two exemplary insights are explored. The first insight on the definition of the contemporary celebrity based on well-knownness provides the impetus for the legal protection of the commercial value of identity. The second insight about the celebrity’s function as a cultural sign representing majoritarian ideals has important implications both for contemporary consumption and identity politics. It will be shown how these insights support the concepts of evocative identification, associative appropriation and political recoding, all contributing to a more nuanced understanding of three key elements of a typical publicity claim. As celebrities in other common law jurisdictions like the United Kingdom and Australia rely on the passing off action to seek redress for unauthorised commercial uses of their identity, the relevance of these concepts to passing off is also examined. / The findings indicate that insights from cultural studies on the celebrity phenomenon can support both an expansive interpretation of identification in a publicity claim and, at the same time, a more restrictive application of the requirement of commercial appropriation. The dissertation also demonstrates how treating ideological codings of the celebrity persona as political speech can influence the articulation of the First Amendment defence. In addition, these cultural insights have similar relevance to passing off laws, supporting a broad interpretation of goodwill and damage, and a standard of impressionistic association based on the notion of affective transfer as sufficient to constitute misleading conduct. / In conclusion, this dissertation establishes that, far from being merely a theoretical discipline concerned with semiotic codings and the politics of power and identity, cultural studies provides a pragmatic framework for judges, scholars and lawyers to further their understanding of the extra-legal issues relating to the laws protecting the commercial value of the celebrity personality.

Forskningen kring marknadsföring med kändisar har fokuserat på hur företag väljer den lämpligaste endorsern för just sitt varumärke och hur associationerna mellan produkten och kändisen spelar in på annonseffekter. Det har visats i flera studier att konsumenternas uppfattning av kändisen som person återspeglas i betraktarens annonsattityd och varumärkesattityd. Vi har valt att fokusera vår uppsats på effekterna av marknadsföringen av kvinnoparfymen Chanel No. 5 och jämfört konsumenternas uppfattning för en manlig respektive en kvinnlig ambassadör.Studien är uppdelad i två enkäter där vi med kvantitativa metoder undersöker två olika ambassadörersom marknadsfört produktenChanel No. 5. Vi har valt en manlig (Brad Pitt) och en kvinnlig ambassadör (Marilyn Monroe).Resultatet visade på en skillnad mellan de två ambassadörerna i både sambandet mellan annonsattityd/varumärkesattityd och konsumentens uppfattning av ambassadören. Resultatet bekräftade även gängse uppfattning om att en kvinna som marknadsför en kvinnoparfym har en bättre matchning jämfört med den manliga. För den kvinnliga ambassadören med starkareanknytning till varumärket kunde vi se tydliga samband för både annonsattityd och varumärkesattityd medan för ambassadören med mindre anknytning fanns det främst samband för annonsattityden medan för varumärkesattityden fanns det knappt några sambandalls.

Despite the vast amount of research conducted by media academics over the past decade, little is known about the concept of internet celebrity, or e-celebrity, within an online-gaming environment. The overall impression that emerges from literature in this field is that e-celebrity has been studied in popular, user-based or social networking websites. However, this paper aims to contribute to the field by further exploring the role, concept and practices of e-celebrity within a virtual world: the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game World of Warcraft. By exploring Marwick’s concept of micro-celebrity and by studying players via qualitative means using virtual ethnographic participant observation supported by interviews, the data collected in this paper aims to add nuance to our understanding of the changing concept of celebrity on a virtual level.

When discussing charity, it is important to recognize that charity and other forms of giving are not solely done out of altruism, but can also be done out of greed and self promotion. It is especially important to recognize when those in power or those who have fame participate in this form of giving, because their actions may be emulated by others. This self aggrandizing giving has been done historically throughout multiple cultures as a way to gain or keep prestige, and also as a way to keep the boundaries between the classes strong. This is an important idea because, as I argue, giving as a way to gain public recognition and to keep social boundaries in place is still occurring today. This form of giving is what I label Conspicuous Charity. This is giving in which the main focuses of the participation in charity are the public and social benefits (such as prestige and recognition) to the givers, whereas the assistance to those in need is but a secondary benefit. The conspicuous use of charity also can take a broader approach, which I label Conspicuous Giving. This form of giving is presently being used as a way to keep those with fame, such as media celebrities, in the limelight, those with high standing in the global hierarchy at the top, and those at the top of the racial hierarchy separated from those at the bottom. In order to flesh out the concept of Conspicuous Giving, other forms of giving are also discussed such as Christmas gifts, bribes, and feasting. These cultural events are discussed within the context of multiple cultures as ways to show that using giving in a predatory manner is not a phenomenon unique to Western or even American culture. However, I argue that when it comes to this behavior, Americans are at the forefront of this movement into postmodernity.

Recent theory on the role of celebrity in a contemporary context emphasizes the unique manner in which celebrity pervades public discourse. This thesis examines the interrelationship between celebrity and disaster theory in order to evaluate the extent to which celebrity had access to public and media discourse about Hurricane Katrina. Attention is also focused on the ways in which celebrity was manifested within this discourse. Social constructionism is employed here as the theoretical lens through which celebrity and disaster merge. With regard to methodology, qualitative elements of Altheide’s (1987) ethnographic content analysis are used to decipher the claims made by and about celebrity within the Katrina news media narrative. In order to address questions of context, Fine’s (1997) adaptation of Smelser’s (1962) value-added model is used to identify some of the structural considerations from which these claims emerge. From this examination, three substantive themes emerge: (1) Gabler’s (1998) celebrity theory offers a suitable approach to the examination of the intersection between celebrity and Hurricane Katrina; (2) Due to the character of this assessment, constructionist applications which consider not only the role of claims-makers but the structural context of claims-making activities provide the most comprehensive framework; (3) The pervasiveness of celebrity in the contemporary context, combined with the dissensus surrounding the Katrina event, allowed celebrities to adopt unique roles within the Katrina narrative. / Thesis (Master, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2008-09-08 15:45:08.895

My thesis analyses the phenomenon of Figwit, a non-speaking elf extra who appeared for only three-seconds in the first instalment of Peter Jackson's 2001 Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. Figwit was initially generated as an online parody by female fans of the movie and as a foil to the 'swooning, drooling girly' fandom that was being directed towards the movie's star actors. However, Figwit evolved into a bona fide, albeit minor, celebrity both on and offline as he attracted attention from worldwide media, a small speaking role in the final movie and genuine adulatory fandom as manifested in the production of Figwit merchandise. In my thesis I argue that Figwit's creation and consequential community formation reflects a dynamic online-offline dialogic in which pre-existing offline and habitus-generated social practices and distinctions, ideal reflexive individuality and celebrity/fandom were dynamically reproduced within online technological frameworks. I also argue that online activity and interactivity is generated by users to strategically express and engage intensified reflexive individuality, affirming sociability and hyper-social distinctions. In this regard I have also argued that these various potentials and imaginaries were significantly enabled by digital architectures and genres of online communication and interactivity. In particular, I discuss the internet's capacity for searchability, traceability, and rhetorical framing processes that facilitate continuous re-editing authorship possibilities, which are not necessarily replicable in face-to-face interactions. Finally, I argue that reflexive online interactivity and identity expressions may transform into online and offline consequences that may be constructive, divergent or even contradictory. The arguments put forward in this thesis are based on a multi-sited ethnography, which utilises a variety of methodologies including participant-observation, subject interviews, communications and media archiving and analysis, and it draws from a variety of sources both online and offline.

Bakgrund – Att använda sig av celebriteter i marknadsförningssyfte har på den senaste tiden blivit en allt vanligare företeelse bland företagen i dagens samhälle. Detta fenomen har fått namnet celebrity endorsements och förekommer frekvent över hela världen. Många företag använder sig av denna marknadsföringsstrategi då den har visats bryta igenom dagens mediebrus och fånga konsumenternas uppmärksamhet. Fenomenets ökade popularitet har lett till en mängd forskning på området, samt ett generellt intresse för celebritetens effektivitet. Trots flera framsteg finns det fortfarande mycket kvar att undersöka inom området. Syfte – Syftet med studien är att erhålla kunskap om vilka karaktärsdrag hos ambassadören en konsument värdesätter i en kongruent respektive i en inkongruent marknadsföringskampanj. Metod - Den teoretiska referensramen testades via internetbaserade enkäter med hjälp av vänner och bekanta. Samtliga respondenter talade svenska och majoriteten var mellan 19 och 35 år gamla. Enkäterna bygger på teorier och modeller som utvecklats av tidigare forskare inom området. Efter att ha samlat in all data användes statistikprogrammet SPSS för att analysera enkäternas svar med hjälp av korrelations- och regressionsanalyser. Slutsats - Resultatet av studien visar likt tidigare undersökningar att faktorn expertis har en inverkan på konsumenternas attityd när ambassadören anses vara kongruent med den produkt hen marknadsför. Utöver detta fann studien att faktorn likhet påverkade konsumenten när ambassadören ansågs inkongruent med produkten.