Leadership and Celebrity in PR

Every business requires good leadership. Surely leadership is important because if we had no one taking responsibility or accountability for their actions how would society function? Strong leadership is required to help keep control of the brand and position it. If this is not done we as a society will form our own opinion and give it a reputation it doesn’t crave. In an age where gossip and rumour can spread like wildfire figureheads must be seen to present honesty and fairness so that this culture filters down. President Eisenhower quoted ‘the supreme quality for leadership is unquestionable integrity’ which would suggest that honesty and fairness is very important to the successful practice of PR.

Kelman’s source characteristic model suggests there are three main reasons why we take a message or source seriously –

• Authority
• Credibility
• Source Attractiveness

Is authority why we listen to teachers at school? Is credibility why we listen to doctor’s advice? Is source attractiveness why we live in a celebrity culture? Make up your own mind?

An example of where bad leadership affects a companies PR is Toyota. As a car manufacturer we expect Toyota to have credibility as it is a very complicated process with any mistakes possibly having life or death consequences.  When faults arouse with production in 2010 Toyota reacted slowly. Toyota’s leaders were slow to respond and acknowledge responsibility for the problems. Doing this has hugely damaged Toyota’s reputation as this lack of leadership allowed gossip and rumour to spread instead of quickly indentifying and resolving the problems. This has therefore resulted in the unsuccessful practice of PR.

Do we put to much emphasis on the leader? Should it be about surrounding yourself with the best team and resources necessary? How much importance do you place on the leaders?

As suggested before celebrities have a big influence over the world we live in. celebrities are found in many different sectors e.g. authors, musicians and politicians and are often used by PR to present messages. Some celebrities might be used to popularise a brand in the sector they are familiar e.g. Jamie Oliver and Sainsburys while some might be used just for their name e.g. Gary Lineker and Walkers crisps.

 Is it safe to assume that reasons for using a celebrity are different for each company? Majumdar [2010, p.158] quotes ‘a celebrity is used to impart credibility and aspirational values to the brand, but the celebrity does not need to match the brand’. This suggests each celebrity endorsement has a different purpose and it is dependant upon the image wanting to be portrayed.  Sainsburys might want to increase the credibility of their brand through endorsement from a well know chef while Walkers might want to create an attractiveness and desire for their brand through the use of a respected English international footballer. It also suggests that the use of celebrity helps increase honesty and integrity within the brand. Do you have any examples where celebrity endorsement has had a positive impact on the image of the brand?

In my opinion it is a risk to put to much emphasis on the celebrity endorsement. Andy Warhol said everyone would be famous for 15 mins and with celebrities this is very true with people constantly coming in and out of the public eye.

Can the role of celebrity be a good form of PR? Yes the impact of celebrity can be a positive but it can also be a negative as their reputation can change just as quickly as a brands.

Thank you for reading my blog. Do you love? Hate it? What are you thoughts of Leadership and Celebrity in the context of PR? Watch out for the next edition.

References

Majumdar, R. [2010] Consumer Behaviour: Insights From Indian Market. PHI Learning Private Limited