You sit in front of your TV after a long day at school or work. You turn it on, turn the channel to whatever you feel like watching and commerical comes on-- "this person wears this so you should too!" Okay, maybe that is not exactly the wording of the commerical, but when you step back and truly think about it, that is what the commerical is implying. Companies now depend on celebrity endorsements more than ever. Every year during the Superbowl, the MVP drives away in a brand new car. One year, that car happened to be a black Cadillac SRX, in which Tom Brady got. About two weeks after the Superbowl, that same car was sitting in my driveway. Of course, it wasn't the exact car that Brady won, but it was the same model; a brand new black Cadillac SRX, just sitting in my driveway, waiting to be driven. So who knew that just seeing a car on a football field would knock some sense into my dad's head and make him buy that car? The people who sponsor the Superbowl did. The more popular the celebrity that a company gets, the more appealing that product will seem to the audience. Audience is key, the audience will forever be the key.
Many people will admit that they have fallen for the endorsement curse, where they fell for buying something because someone they like, or maybe even look up to promotes it. Gatorade, Powerade, and Vitamin Water have all the sports behind them. Oh, you play sports, drink Gatorade before your game, you'll sweat blue or green or maybe even orange! Wait, what? What does sweating a color have anything to do with the drink? Nothing, but the fact that they have a man sweating a rainbow on TV makes that product more popular. People look for creativity, and not to mention, if a winner was the one sweating the rainbow, that is a huge plus for that company. It is the same for the music industry. I write my songs in my bedroom with my Gibson acoustic guitar. Well congratulations musician, whoever you are, you now are going to get a brand new Gibson acoustic dropped off at your door so you can keep on name dropping. Celebrities are not idiots when it comes to name dropping. The more you get a certain name out there, the more you will get from that person. But when does promoting become less selfish and more for the common good?
About three years ago, a little known band from Tulsa, Oklahoma stumbled across a company that they knew could help get not only their voice out, but also the voices that they were speaking for. That band is Hanson, the three brothers responsible for Mmmbop. In 2005, while starting production on their fourth studio album, they decided that they didn't just want their voices to just tell stories about lost love, or found love, they wanted to actually tell a story. That's when they truly found out for themselves the destruction of the AIDS epidemic. They always knew of it, and it always struck an interest to them, but for once in their lives, they truly wanted to take that disease and ultimately put an end to it. This is where Taking the Walk started, a project of Hanson's in which before every concert they did a one mile walk to raise awareness for AIDS and poverty in Africa. Along this journey of awareness, Hanson came across a company that they knew they needed to be a part of, they knew that this company was onto something great. And it was indeed. This company is known as TOMS Shoes. The founder, Blake Mycoskie, a southern California native, created this company on one simple notion: for every pair of shoes TOMS sells, they will donate a pair to a child in need.
So where did this promotion begin? With those walks of course. That one mile walk that Hanson held before every concert was barefoot. Yes, with no shoes. Your feet had to touch the ground; the nasty, dirty, city ground. It might sound gross to you, but to me, it sounded like a tiny start to a greater accomplishment. What if I told you that kids had to do that every day, that there were kids out there that had to walk more than a mile barefoot in order to get food, clean water, and even medical care. Some kids couldn't even attend school without shoes. So how did something so innocent, something that we as Americans take for granted every day, become something so important, something that is needed more than anyone thought? With the power of four voices, a whole country of voices were heard. With Hanson, Blake not only found a friendship, but a partner to help cure.
Most celebrities endorse a product for money, but these three guys, this band of brothers, took endorsement to a whole other level. Next time you fall for a celebrity endorsement, think to yourself where your money is going. Most likely it is going in that celebrities pocket. But what if your money could go somewhere else? Like to a child in need.
I would also like to to point out that the benefit show that George Clooney, Will.I.Am. and others put on Friday night raised over $58 million for Haiti. Just some celebrity endorsement gone good here folks. :)
** Ngi ne themba means 'I find hope' in isiZulu. Around 10 million people speak this language. Most of them live in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
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