In life each of us has our own path to travel upon, our own road to journey down, obstacles to hurdle over and sometimes stumble upon. We don't like to watch anyone get left in the dust, left behind. In this world we put blinders on our peripheral vision, like those people in the mall that keep their chins up to the ceiling and use their own children in their strollers like battery rams, we don;t stop to see what is right in front of our faces. The problems that this world is facing everyday, and since the reason we don't see them is because we are all on the computer, watching television, playing with our blackberry, advertisers have to get our attention somehow. It is no secret to the advertising industry that we cater to those who we believe can't stand up for themselves, animals and children. Even though society has turned a blind eye to the problems within these categories advertisers know that if they put it right in front of our faces we will react. If we don't react we always have those familiar faces of Robin Williams, Jennifer Aniston, Ray Romano, Bernie Mac and Antonio Banderas all compiled into one single commercial to help catch our attention.
St. Judes Children Research Hospital uses celebrities, recognizable faces that even if you look up for a second and go to turn you attention back to what you were doing you snap your head back. You have the voice of children and the familiar voices of these public figures put together into one thirty second commercial. Each celebrity interacts with one patient showing that they are not just preaching for some organization but that they are actually participating in it and interacting and changing the lives of these patients. Wouldn't you want to do that too?
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St. Jude's marketing team will use familiar faces, celebrities to engage the viewer as a credible, likable person so that it creates an emotion (as if the subject nature wasnt strong enough) so people want to connect to the same cause the celebrity has. So instead of giving donations for the sake of saving a child, per say, the donation is sparked by a feeling of connection to the celebrity... With something like St. Jude's anything that can gain donations is a worthwhile cause. If St. Jude's will pay the price of having a celebrity speak on their behalf, then it's well worth it. They are obviously serious about their organization as well they should be.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I ever realized just how persuasive the St. Jude's commercials really are. Maybe that's the point. They make the celebrities seem real and down to earth by putting them with the children. I'm also amazed at how well it works. After having seen these commercials I have, on multiple occasions, donated to St. Jude's.
ReplyDeleteOur society has formed a sad misconception that celebrities, along with what they say, do, and stand for, are more highly valued than the average person. Whether a conscious or subconscious belief, in our minds we have decided that if Jennifer Aniston is the spokesperson for an organization, then that organization MUST be valid and worthwhile. I mean, left to our own devices, the everyday person couldn't possibly figure out that St. Jude's was a charity deserving of our generosity...right? I agree with Lauren in that using celebrity spokespeople DOES get us to pay attention, which in turn gets the job done... we donate. On the other hand, I cannot help but wonder if we, as decent human beings, wouldn't do the very same thing for a charity as worthy as St. Jude's without the celebrity push. I'd like to think we would.
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