Ads with celebrities

Updated: May 1, 2021

First celebrity who got paid to endorse a product was Babe Ruth in 1930 for a product called Red Rock Cola. Since then celebrities have become an inevitable part of marketing and advertising. It's a shortcut to build trust and reach to more people. Especially in India we worship our film stars and cricketers. In my knowledge Lux started celebrity endorsement in India. I think one of the most influential ads in our generation was Pepsi ads with Indian cricketers. I tried Pepsi for the first because Ajay Jadeja was in the ad. He was my favourite cricketer back then. Most of the celebrity ads are boring in its content, most of the time it looks like the idea itself is just using a celebrity. But there are exceptions, some of the ads used these celebrities very well to stand out. In a crowded market like India, not only a celebrity can save your brand because the same guy/girl must be endorsing ten other brands. That's when you need an idea along with a known face. The idea or the clever use of that celebrity will make your brand stay in your audience mind for longer. Bollywood stars and cricketers hold major share of the endorsement in Indian market. Deepika Padukone, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Sharukh Khan, Amir Khan are some popular names among advertisers. Listing some of my favourite celebrity ads here..