Celebrities are celebrated personalities in various fields, including the arts, sciences, and politics. These individuals become public figures heralded and afforded certain courtesies and privileges due to their contributions to society. Due to the value society places on them, celebrities have enormous credibility, which is translated into their long-standing goodwill image. The goodwill images are subsequently leveraged as strong brands in promoting both commercial and social goods. We need to remind ourselves, however, of the origins of the brand image; these good brand images emanate from a subjective societal approval of the celebrity’s contribution; in other words, the celebrity’s brand is a function of society’s endorsement. The foregoing implies that a celebrity carries the burden of remaining consistent within the context of societal expectations. The society, for example, may expect celebrities to be socially and environmentally conscious and react to current social and environmental concerns. The society believes the star power of celebrities can create urgent attention from policymakers. These expectations question the alignment of values between celebrities and society, thus further deepening the gap between ideological compatibility and symbolic congruity in the relationship between celebrities and society, which finds expression within the self-congruity theory.
In a recent study done by Mohammed et al (2022), ideological incompatibility and symbolic incongruity were found to influence celebrity brand hate significantly. The findings mean that celebrities’ brand representations in the form of public endorsements and public speaking contradicting public or society expectations would cause a backlash, which, if sustained, would result in celebrity brand hate. Similarly, if the celebrities’ image, posture, and beliefs do not reflect the public’s authenticity and beliefs, then it translates to celebrity brand hate. The society’s negative reaction to the lack of alignment of the celebrity’s values and interests with their interest is borne out of the self-congruity theory, which says that consumers (public) compare the impressions of a brand image (celebrity brand image) with their self-concept. In this psychological process, consumers (public) are constantly evaluating value parity between what celebrities are saying, doing, endorsing and not saying against their values in deciding to continue or discontinue with the brand. In the case of celebrities, this would mean a total boycott of the celebrities’ products, which include concerts, films, music and public speaking events. The ideological incompatibility and symbolic incongruity thus have far-reaching consequences for celebrities.
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/aam-08-2021-0039/full/pdf
What can celebrities do to avoid ideological and symbolic incongruity?
We recommend the following strategies for avoiding ideological and symbolic incongruity:
Firstly, celebrities must be socially and culturally aware and responsive to current societal issues. Celebrities in Ghana should be abreast with current social issues within the country and make their opinions heard on the matters. They must make their opinions known on matters arising and take an opinionated position of those matters. For example, on illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, celebrities must be vocal in supporting the protection of the environment in line with popular public sentiments. Secondly, celebrities are equally encouraged to stay true to their authentic selves by remaining consistent and objective with their public opinions and defending their principled positions on social matters. Any inconsistency with previous principled positions would result in celebrity brand hate. Thirdly, celebrities are strongly encouraged not to be indifferent to national issues and must show both presence and courage to lead public discourse on such matters. Lastly, celebrities must, as a matter of strategy, engage professional Public Relations experts to manage their brands by advising and communicating the beliefs and values of the celebrity either proactively (strongly recommended) or reactively as a crisis management brand strategy to avert and salvage celebrity brands anytime both ideological and symbolic incongruity is found. In conclusion, we strongly recommend that part the management of the celebrity brand must include the constant scanning of the external environment to be up to date with socially relevant issues that deserve response and celebrity action and also manage their entire image professionally.
BY Leeford Edem Kojo Ameyibor, PhD
The Writer is with the faculty of Management and the Department of Marketing, University of Professional Studies, UPSA, Accra
