August 29, 2006
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DON’T LOOK A GIFT BAG IN THE MOUTH
During the Emmy Awards on Sunday night, Conan O’Brian made mention of the fact that presenters would be required to pay taxes on the gift bags they received. According to Conan, the bags, which had been valued at $51,000.00, included $1,000.00 in merchandise and a “$50,000.00 gift certificate to the Olive Garden.”
Holy swag Batman…$51,000.00?!?!?! I thought that was an exorbitant amount until I read on CNN.com that the gift bags given to presenters at the Oscars last year were valued at over $100.000.00. CNN mentioned that this year’s Emmy bags contained, among many other essential items, a set of cultured pearls and a gold plated cell phone. Who really needs a gold platted cell phone except perhaps a rapper who wants it to match his gold plated teeth and the gold plated rims on his Escalade?
Why would manufacturers give away that much costly merchandise to celebrities? Apparently, the answer is that it could amount to a celebrity endorsement of their product. And when it comes to paying for celebrity endorsements, several thousand dollars of merchandise given to celebrities on an awards show is…cheap. Nokia is quite happy to give 50 Cent that gold plated cell phone simply on the off chance that he might use it to “blast yo’ bitch ass” on his next video.
I find this incredibly intriguing. After I heard about the gift bags I asked myself, “would I really use a particular product or wear a particular piece of clothing just because a celebrity told me I should?” I think it depends on the celebrity. If
I think most people would say that they are not influenced by celebrity endorsements, but the numbers say they’re lying. Tiger Woods last endorsement deal with Nike was worth 100 million dollars. 100 million dollars buys a lot of friggin tennis shoes my friends. Nike doesn’t stop there, though. They also have endorsement deals with Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Lance Armstrong, and Olympic sprinter Marion Jones.
Nike is not going spend half a billion dollars on celebrity endorsements unless they are getting a full return on that investment, so A LOT of people buy stuff because celebrities tell them too.
On a side note…you can always measure the current status of a celebrities’ career by what it is they are endorsing; Celine Dion endorses Chrysler while Dionne Warwick endorses the psychic hotline. ’Nuff said.
So, I ask you: Do you drink Pepsi because Michael Jackson set his hair on fire for it? Would you eat a Big Mac because Kobe Bryant said he was loyal to it? Would you pick a personal injury attorney because William Shatner said you should boldly go to the law offices of Ernest Whiplash?
Madison Avenue is betting you will.
Comments (24)
good afternoon
RYC: I have a very handy hubby 
I shudder to think what I would ever do without him…. Hmmmmm Nope, I dont buy anything on just the word of a celebrity. With all the incentives they get to hawk the merchandise, I just figure they will say anything for their check.
Love the post! Especially the Diane Lane/Nathan Lane comments! My answer to your questions is “no”. And that might have something to do with my age. I am so tired of celebrites telling me what to buy, how to look, what music to listen to, how to vote, etc.! I don’t need or want their advice or opinions to live my life or make my life better. I want to watch them act, sing, and dance and that’s it. Okay…okay…if Mel Gibson asked me to wear chaps and a dog collar, I’d do it. And, before you give me flak on Mel, you need to know that I am very disappointed in his recent behavior. I have more to say about that, but I won’t. Let’s just say what I’d like to do with Mel has nothing to do with any of his opinions or beliefs, and everything to do with my sick fantasy life!
What Mark … you don’t get gift bags like this
I drink Coke products
Diane Lane’s Mama has a nice house in my hometown. I have run into Diane several times over the years – in Wal Mart, the grocery store and other places. She doesn’t make a lot of eye contact and usually has on a hat and glasses – little if any make – up, jeans and a shirt. If I didn’t know her Mama, I probably wouldn’t have known that was her 
Olive Garden… hahahahahahahahaha
Well, gee whiz, I joined the Sister Study (a longterm breastcancer study) and allow them to take my blood and other bodily fluids for research and all I got was a crappy purple chip clip.
You know, this is funny that you brought this up because I am constantly reading about those gift bags that the celebrities get for events. I mean….if they REALLY want to impress me, give the bags to poverty stricken people or heck, just give the moneythat they have paid for the items in the bags. I don’t care if any celebrity drank soda or ate at certain restraunts….BUT…..there is that one commercial of the guy in the tight jeans, smacking that cows butt while that song is playing….”my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard….”…..now….honestly, I can’t tell you WHAT he is advertising….but I would definitely watch that commercial over and over just to see those “jeans” again. lol
i wouldn’t buy a product because a celebrity endorses it, but i do make the association between a great celebrity commercial and a product. it isn’t any different than great tag lines or ad campaigns (admit it, you can’t see a box of Life cereal and think he likes it, hey mikey!). okay those ad campaigns might be cheaper than using a celebrity, but it is the same thing. and when you can connect a celebrity or something to a company, it becomes more familiar. you recognize the name, and like voting in local elections, name recognition is everything.
i remember those great miller lite commercials from the 80s that used all the celebrities. miller lite was one of those disgusting cheap college beers, but the celebrities somehow gave it respectability.
thank you sportsgoddess…all the other comments were like, “not me, I would never buy something because a celebrity endorsed it.” That is what I would like to believe but the reality is, as Mark pointed out, a lot of people are doing it whether they realize it or not or these companies wouldn’t be doing up the gift bags at every opportunity. Name recognition is the name of the game…guilty as charged!
I wanted to say I appreciated your comment on Dan’s site, I totally agree.
I guess I should be more specific, I meant the comment about prayer in school
This was a very funny post. You should be nationally syndicated.
I am guilty of buying my dad golf stuff that is endorsed by certain players. I think I usually do think some products are better when they’re endorsed by celebrities. I mean surely they wouldn’t endorse something that they really thought was crap….would they?
That’s a great post. While I’m not one to be swayed by celebrity endorsements (I don’t even watch the commercials, and wouldn’t believe any of them anyway), there are a lot of people who are so in awe of celebrities that they would most definitely be swayed by that type of endorsement. Kinda makes you wonder about America…
Well, Kobe Bryant’s loyalty is cheap. I think that sports figures and celebrity’s endorsements differ in that people believe that maybe their golf game would improve if they use the same gear as a famous athlete. But as far as celebritys go, I really couldn’t care less, nor could I believe it, given the fact that they are GIVEN FREE STUFF to endorse it. People should buy what I buy. I have taste and common sense.
oh my gosh. they are so out of date. Seriously. Gold plated anythings are out. You want platinum. Atleast that’s what Flavor Flave says. Yeah Boiiiiiiiii.
RYC: Do you think even with treatment he could ever be normal? I don’t think he could ever again be trusted around kids because it seems to me there would always be a weakness there. But then, I could be wrong.
Yes, I will gladly buy any product that causes harm to Michael Jackson.
Haha! Clever post today…I hope to be able to read more?
Sometimes I go out of my way not to buy an item because of that celebrity. It can go against the big company if they don’t choose well.
Pay taxes on the gift bags? How odd is that.
Michael jackson, Celine Dion, Dyonne wharwick? Ummmm….no!
Poor advertising, and surely not helpful to the companies……
I would not buy something because a celebrity endorsed it. However, Harrison Ford or Richard Gere could probably sell me anything
I had the down time to watch a roast for William Shatner (“what’s next, a roast for the Travelocity Gnome?”)…I honestly don’t know, being a celebrity of sorts myself, how much we are influenced by celebrity endorsements. Of course, perched here in Rich People’s Land, they’re just folks…
Nike sucks. I prefer Coke to Pepsi. I don’t believe in the psychiatric hotline…or was that psychic?
I don’t buy that zit medicine crap just because Vanessa or Jessica endorse it……
However, when it comes to gold plated phones and 50K in OLIVE GARDEN?!!! gift cards, I wonder if they could sell those things on ebay. Just because of who they are?