Speak out
A product endorsement is a two-way street. While it helps build the brand (and the celebrity), it also has the potential of damaging both in case of any adverse event with either party. If something goes wrong with the brand (Cadbury ‘worms’, Coca-Cola ‘pesticide’, Hometrade, Maggi), then the celebrity too faces a downslide, but the trust dip depends on the type of endorsement.
If it is an over-endorsement by the celebrity – “I only trust this (product) for my family’s health” — and subsequently the product is found to be of bad quality, the celebrity, too, faces a deep trust slide.
Now consider this: the higher the trust in the celebrity, the better the odds that the audiences will forgive the transgression. Often the fear for the celebrity is that any message given to rebuild the persona in the face of an incident should not face more flak and, therefore, further fuel the controversy, or diminish their brand value. To rebuild trust in their persona, celebrities must rebuild the ‘capacity to trust’ in the audiences with two factors — transparency and display of empathy. If the damage of a wrong endorsement has been done, then a clear communication is more helpful in rebuilding trust. In crises, it is important to communicate more, rather than less.