Question

Find a celebrity who is currently appearing in ads for a particular company or brand and use McCracken’s meaning transfer model to analyze the use of the celebrity as a spokesperson.

Answer 1

McCracken’s meaning transfer model provides a very interesting perspective on celebrity endorsements. According to this model, a celebrity’s effectiveness as an endorser depends on the culturally acquired meaning s/he brings to the endorsement process. Celebrities acquire these meanings from the roles they assume in their careers as entertainers, athletes, politicians and other areas. They then bring these meanings into the advertisements in which they appear and transfer them to the product or service they are endorsing. Students should be asked to find a celebrity who is currently endorsing a product, service or company and analyze his or her endorsement effectiveness in terms of McCracken’s model. They should discuss how the celebrity acquired his or her meaning and whether it transfers well to the company or brand they are endorsing. For example, actor Paul Hogan was a spokesperson for the Subaru Outback SUV when it was introduced to the U.S. market a few years ago. Hogan acquired his cultural meaning primarily from the role he played in the Crocodile Dundee movies as a rugged, tough guy from the Australian Outback (Stage 1 of the model). He was an excellent choice as a spokesperson for the Outback as Subaru wanted to position the new vehicle as a vehicle that combines rough-terrain driving capability with the ride and comfort of a passenger car and the use of Hogan helps create this image. Subaru’s use of Hogan provides a clever play off of the Outback name as well as an opportunity to transfer Hogan’s tough and rugged image to the vehicle (Stage 2 of the model). Consumers may choose the Outback since they may be looking for these attributes when they purchase a new car, particularly if they internalize the image of the vehicle as durable and rugged (Stage 3 of the model).