یک چشم انداز اخلاقی در مورد تبلیغات Necro: اثر تعدیل کننده ارزش برند An Ethical Perspective on Necro-Advertising: The Moderating Effect of Brand Equity

Introduction The posthumous career of Albert Einstein is particularly active: since his death the scientist has appeared in advertisements for General Motors, Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Xerox and Chrysler, among others. With necro-advertising, i.e., the use of deceased celebrities (delebs) in advertising, late individuals increasingly compete with living celebrities (celebs) as product presenters. More importantly, in contrast to celebrity endorsement, necro-advertising is relatively inexpensive. D’Rozario and Bryant (2013) compare the £30 million deal between Gillette and David Beckham to the $20,000 license fee to use James Dean’s image for 1 year. Therefore, it is not surprising that necro-advertising may be much more accessible to brands that could not afford an association with a living celebrity. Contrary to celebs, who are regularly associated with high-equity brands, delebs also appear in ads for low-equity brands. Illustrating this, Marilyn Monroe has appeared not only in ads for high-equity brands like Dior, but also in ads for less renowned brands like Sexy Hair, and the hair salons Red17 and Ryf Coiffeur. Similarly, various delebs have recently appeared in ads for low-equity brands: Michael Jackson, John Lennon and Jimmy Hendrix for the Brazilian bar Zapata Bar in 2014, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King and Muhammad Ali for the South African library Bookdealers in 2011, and Lucille Ball, James Dean, Dean Martin and Marlon Brando in 2008 for Armstrong Laminate Flooring (‘‘Appendix 1’’). These examples show that delebs appear in ads for low-equity brands with which they may not have agreed to associate during their lifetime. As such, the role of brand equity may be questioned to assess how consumers perceive an association between a brand and a deleb. Indeed, in contrast with celebrity endorsement, necroadvertising associates a brand with individuals (i.e., the delebs) who cannot give their consent for the use of their image. Although the vast majority of brands (low and high equity) using necro-advertising signed a legal binding agreement with the deleb’s estate (D’Rozario and Bryant 2013), some companies use delebs’ image without clearing the publicity rights, as illustrated by the 2010 lawsuit opposing General Motors and the estate of Albert Einstein over trademark infringement. Because the legal agreements between the brand and the deleb’s estate are not explicitly disclosed to consumers, necro-advertising constitutes an ideal setting of uncertain information to investigate how consumers may make inferences regarding the existence of such agreements based on prior brand knowledge.