Structural Balance Property in Celebrity Endorsements
Some well-loved celebrities who have accidentally flashed a particular everyday product in a social media live stream or photo have seen the product sell out within the next day. Why are fans so eager to buy that fabric softener that they definitely don’t need?
Celebrity endorsement is a common, powerful marketing strategy in which advertising practitioners use a celebrity’s fame and large fanbase to promote their product. They help companies create a unique position in the marketplace and an identifiable personality for their brand. The Structural Balance Property explains why this strategy is so successful in transferring a person’s positive feelings for the celebrity onto the endorsed brand; the property states that if every set of three nodes has one or all three of the edges labeled as a +, or a positive relation, then the triangle is balanced. There is a + relationship between the fan and the celebrity, and a + relationship between the celebrity and the endorsed product, which the celebrity publicly announces their approval of. According to the Structural Balance Theory, the final relationship between the fan and the product must be + to create a balanced structure (Figure 1); if it was -, the structure would be unstable, and there would be implicit forces pushing the relationship to become positive. According to the article, this advertising strategy works because people aspire to have similar values and lifestyles of the celebrities they look up to, and thus imitate their likes, dislikes, and the brands they purchase from. They view the celebrities as their friends, and as a result view them as more credible and trustworthy sources than normal salespeople.
Figure 1: A balanced structure with all edges labeled as +
Figure 2: A balanced structure with one edge labeled as +
The article states that because of this delicate balance, brands must be wise when choosing the celebrities “to use as persuasive tools in their advertisements.” Although it may seem obvious, they must choose celebrities that are not only popular, but seem like credible and upstanding members of society; this is because when a celebrity is involved in a public scandal that damages their reputation, the brand they endorse also faces the consequences; just like positive feelings for a public figure are transferred to the product, negative feelings transfer just as, if not more, quickly. The edge between the celebrity and the fan is now labeled as a -, and as a result, the edge between the product and the fan becomes – as well to maintain a balanced structure (Figure 2). To avoid continuing to be associated with this negative image, companies will cut ties with the celebrity and remove the endorsement. An example of this scenario is the relationship between Jeffree Star, a well-known makeup guru, and the large beauty retailer Morphe. As soon as the public turned against him for his racist language and incriminating photos, Morphe turned on him as well to prevent a misconception that Morphe condones this type of behavior.
Overall, because the structural balance theory allows us to predict patterns in the social network, celebrity endorsements will continue to command the advertisement industry.
Source: https://fashionandtextiles.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40691-018-0159-8