If anyone ever doubted the power of celebrity, two recent stories will have changed their mind. First we heard that the fashion brand Abercrombie and Fitch is offering to pay Mike ‘The Situation’ Sorrentino and his fellow Jersey Shore cast members to stop wearing the brand on the show.
Then a rise in the number of UK students studying science has been put down to the ‘Brian Cox effect’. Professor Brian Cox has brought a bit of glamour to science – he was once in a rock band – and of course there is Brian May who is still rocking as a member of Queen while getting back into astro-physics. It is this powerful change in behaviour that many PR people are trying to achieve when using celebrities. But how successful are these efforts? Are savvy consumers today likely to see through such efforts? Does the Brian Cox example work because it seems to have happened in such an un-managed way?
