Rinna Hocks Depends; Oprah Brushes Off Barack
Lisa Rinna is sporting Depends. Meanwhile Oprah won’t make a public endorsement for Obama this election. Which action, coming from these influential women in their sage years, makes sense? Which one leaves you wondering if her cash reserves is running as close to empty as her integrity?
No Amount of Spin is Going to Make Me Buy In
Many aging female celebrity product endorsements need to be flushed starting with Rinna’s red carpet runway walk sporting Depends – diapers for adults. Get real.
Rinna claims she meant to shine a positive light on an embarrassing subject but she brought zero credibility to the carpet given she doesn’t need or use Depends herself. Marketing 101.
“….tell the truth because people know the truth any way.” Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric.
Last year Jamie Lee Curtis (52) was the spokesperson for Activia yogurt that claims to promote digestive health. The ads were among the least-effective spots shown, according to Ace Metrix.
Sally Fields is the corporate spokesperson for Bonovia, which she does use to fight off osteoporosis. What she doesn’t openly do in newspaper interviews or the online “journal” she writes on the company’s website is disclose that she is being paid by Roche Therapeutics to peddle the product.
Is Sally Selling Us the Whole Truth and Nothing But with Bonovia?
As a blogger, we are urged to disclose any affiliate programs we earn income from. The same should hold true in mainstream media with celebrities.
Many consider Oprah as the shoe-in spokesperson with nearly part-the-seas credibility, which is why I admire her even more for not openly endorsing any candidate in 2012.
When her book club took on life of its own because of the instant fame she was creating for authors, she shut it down and moved on. She realizes her power and only endorses philosophies and philosophers these days.
And don’t even get me started on weight loss spokespeople. There’s the controversy behind Valerie Bertinelli who peddles Jenny Craig. Her own biography claims she’s used cocaine for years to speed weight loss so were her recent weight loss results the program or the habit?
Janet Jackson has jumped on board for Nutrisystem to continue her rollercoaster plight with weight. Or did Nutrisystem seek her out to put two African American vocal icons toe to toe on the scale? Will Ms. Jackson take down Jennifer Hudson who reps Weight Watchers? I doubt it. My credibility vote goes with Hudson. Not nipple ring flasher Jackson.
Is Ms. Jackson’s endorsement for real?
I’m a bit skeptical of the many spokesperson spiels minus Susan Sarandon for milk or Angelina Jolie as goodwill ambassador for United Nations.
What’s next? Madonna as spokesperson for Hoveround mobility scooter, Diane Von Furstenberg for Target, Martha Stewart for McDonald’s, Gloria Steinem for the Wonder Bra?
I know with 10,000 baby boomers turning 62 every day, there’s a marketing buffet to gorge on, but let’s keep it real celebs and midlife women with the platform. Don’t make me stick my finger down my throat.
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Category: Career & Money
I channel Dharma, Meg Ryan and Erma Bombeck while helping boomers find their groove and mojo. Light some incense, drink wine, bang your drum and love this part of your life with all your soul. It's time to shake you Boho bon bons honey.
Funny. I also look a bit deeper than most folks at ad content, spokesperson choice, message delivery, etc and noticed this one just the other day as well. It had me scratching my head – thinking… who’s in charge of THAT marketing department!?
Kind but with a discerning eye. I like that.
Celebs get paid for any endorsement, so what else is new? I doubt that Oprah shut down her book club because she hated making money from the book orders. Get real.
I think perhaps the percentages she earned (or whatever the conditions of her contracts were) might not have been high enough for her taste.
Newsflash: The Oprah Book Club is back anyway. Her company is just figuring out how to monetize all the sales differently this time around is all. One aspect is getting everybody’s email adress who subscribes to the club news. She does a lot of promoting of stuff and just reading the terms and conditions before signing up for her book club 2.0 may take 30 minutes or so. I gave up halfway though. Usually I’m looking for the important right to sell or rent my email, but I couldn’t find it in that overly long document….
Thanks for chiming in and excuse my “assumptions” about why Oprah abandoned her book club the first time. It will be interesting to see her direction of it the second time. Set me straight any time.