Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Hot celebrity women used to just be another pretty face that we could all gawk at for awhile for our own personal reasons whether for women it was some kind of beauty tip and for most men a brief moment to be alone with our thoughts. Now beautiful celebrity women have evolved into so much more. They know now how to take their fame to the limits in notoriety and financial worth. They are branding themselves and not the old way you brand a cow with a hot iron. They latch onto a cause or product or lifestyle to promote.

A personal brand could extend the shelf life of a star’s career. Some new celebrity lifestyle gurus are Gwyneth Paltrow who for the past five years has run something called the Goop. Heidi Klum is a big voice on AOL. Jessica Alba’s thing called Honest is all about babies and Kathy Ireland was a pioneer in the field of branding with all kinds of products with her name on it.

More stars are opening up their bathrooms, kitchens and bedrooms, preaching and peddling lifestyles through blogs and books that not so long ago looked as out of reach as Hollywood itself. Jessica Alba is out there selling her organic oil-infused Honest diaper cream. There is Tori Spelling offering TuTORIals on dying your own temporary tattoos for tots. Then there are the celebrities that try to reinvent food.

Gwyneth Paltrow is promoting recipes for gluten-free chicken fingers and tips for planting urban parsley. Her cook book requires pretty expensive ingredients that no one can afford. Isn’t she an actress? Why are these hot women actually making money on tips and products they did not even get a reputation for and fame from. Well, if actors like Ronald Regan and Arnold could rise to the highest levels of political office like President and Governor, I guess a bunch of pretty girls could tell us whatever they want and empty our checkbooks during their process too.

Paltrow is so big in the branding department of society now that she is giving the keynote address today at the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas. Her topic is “Brands on the Brink of Global Expansion.” That woman is taking on the world not just America. For stars, it’s no longer about endorsing a product like the famous George Forman Grill, it is now personally sourcing it. Jennifer Lopez sells anything from bath towels to jewelry and it is all so very personal to her. Give me a break.

Bottom line, the move from slapping your face on a box to designing, or at least deciding what goes inside it is very smart. Allen Adamson the managing director at the brand consulting firm Landor Associates says, “it’s going from renting to owning. These people own their brand names now and are putting them on products they control,” which can be “more enduring than film or modeling careers,” with their limited shelf lives. Women do not remain hot forever.

Martha Stewart is the branding queen but she got there from being some kind of expert in the field, these women got their fame first from not what they are now branding. I feel sorry for the real experts in these product fields who deserve the profits from a branding endorsement. However, some will use an expert in the field to exploit their brand. Kathy Ireland’s brand ambassador is Andre Carthen, also known as the Fit Chef and is the face of her A CafĂ© brand.

 
These women seem to be constantly reinventing themselves. For example, take Jane Fonda who went from the sexy chic in the Barbarella film to political activist Hanoi Jane to the workout video wonder with all her exercise tapes. To me so much image changing does not make any of these people honest or creditable but that is just my opinion. As anything in life, it is not about a cause or a passion. It is about the quest for money, as much money as one can make.

Elizabeth Taylor’s White Diamonds perfume continues to earn lots of money for her heirs long after her death. Yes, money is the fuel for any quest in life and after our shelf life in whatever career we originally had.

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