[icernet] Are celebrity icons puppets in the hands of promoters?

[Arul Selvan]

  All this hoopla over his birthday, it is now said, was organised by 
Tendulkars business partners, advertisers and promoters so that they 
could build an incredible icon out of the sportsman, which would make 
him God in the eyes of the poor millions in India. "Building such 
icons and then milking them to create profits for the celebrity 
concerned, the media and the promoters or publicity and event designers 
has become the biggest marketing game of the decade," says a senior 
executive of a public relations company which specialises in celebrity 
management, "Sachin is an all-time favourite of the endorsement 
market... Entire campaigns for some products are based on his huge 
popularity. But the agencies handling his endorsements have also to keep 
this popularity quotient going to make Tendulkar an attractive 
proposition for advertisers. Companies like ours create the circle 
effect, whereby we promote him as an icon in the media and then plan 
events or campaigns around him to enable the sponsors to increase the 
sales of their products, using his brand value." According to marketing 
gurus, Sachin Tendulkar and Amitabh Bachchan continue to be the 
strongest brands in the Indian market. Aishwarya Rai comes next with her 
international success in Devdas... Her endorsements for diamonds, beauty 
products, soft drinks, film rolls and now her international contract 
with Garnier  for their range of Asian beauty products  have made her 
the numero uno female icon in India.

Source:
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030608/spectrum/main3.htm