Twitter advertising: Celebrities are not online estate agents

As disgusting as it is to say this, in our ‘consumer capitalist’ society, advertising is everywhere. And so often the job falls to those most recognisable.

Believe it or not, I don’t live on a boat. Incense is not tickling my nostrils as I write this. But it’s true – and as the natural composition of the world reflects, celebrity endorsement is ever-present, even in the places we hope it doesn’t quite reach.

So when advertising campaigns and sponsored slogans start penetrating such a sacrosanct place as Twitter, slyly, the latest purge in the form of Wayne Rooney no less , it does feel as if the final frontier of freedom has been breached. And within the worldly, often thoughtful forum that people circle around, most do not want to hear of a sport brand’s latest onslaught at the expense of our rusty number ten.

Twitter, although peppered with Beliebers and the like, is supposed to be a place where interesting people discuss interesting things – Grayson Perry and his wondrous tapestries; whether Ecuador is the best place for Julian Assange.

And although the ‘groupie’ tweeters, the trolls, the badgers – basically those who use Twitter simply as another Facebook-style medium – are at times annoying when they castrate the trends and knock important topics off the board, they are easily ignored. Everything can be fine.

With celebrities, people do want to pay attention and see what they have to say; sporadically, a footballer or a musician might say something exemplary.

Rio Ferdinand selling Snickers is wholly incongruous to the outlet – certainly when his Twitter usage prior to this was up there with the most worthwhile. In this case Ferdinand was not condemned by authority, because he adhered to the guidelines – but he was questioned by fans all the same. They didn’t want to see him selling in a place meant for actual conversation. He is not an estate agent.

This Kim Kardashian character has over 15 million followers; she must get paid a small house every time she filters in some kind of sponsored tweet to her disciples. It’s sad that there is not one ‘real’ place where the world’s most glamorous fall down a peg or two and simply engage as human beings with the rest of us. The whole point of level interaction seems robustly dismantled when sales slogans nestle between supposed normality.

Social media is used to advertise and you can’t get away from that. Everyone with a business to promote tweets, everyone with an exciting offering harnesses the blue bird to sing sweet melody. It would be stupid not to utilise such a tool – it’s justifiable, of course, if it’s clear what the intention is. Cyber trade is a necessity for most these days. Though partly because of this, celebrity endorsement probably won’t falter.

In a sales-driven world, a world so intrinsically sliced open by adverts, slogans and consumer fishing, it’s impossible to escape the corporate stroking without living in the woods. So while inescapable, ASA regulations are in place; the use of ‘#ad’ hash-tags or obvious codes must not be ignored. Such monitoring is needed, although it’s a shame in itself that Twitter must encompass it at all.

But while it may not be particularly hard to spot a sneaky money-maker, would it not be refreshing and dignified to appropriate for once and let Twitter stroll on unadulterated? Living in this bubble of consumption, shouldn’t we be allowed one space, one online place devoid of the selling barrage?

The chances of this are minimal, of course. So, quite simply, the least our public figures can do is respect the rules. I’m sure Rooney’s sneaky tweet didn’t fool too many – but I bet a certain sports brand profited anyway, and that’s incredibly annoying.

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• http://twitter.com/vanterheyden Alex van Terheyden

  Who cares if they advertise via Twitter – just unfollow them if they bore you or annoy you

• Laars

  Mmm. But why follow Kim K in the first place??
  PS This comment is not sponsored by any producer of a product seeking placement.

• Legion IX

  While millions of people go without food or clean water, millions of pounds are spent monthly on persuading us to buy crap we don’t need, with money we cant afford, to impress people we’ve never met. This art of persuasion would reduce Hitler to an absolute beginner – it is iniquitous, obscene, and totally mindless; built on the excuse that “we need to know.” It is not just a by-product of capitalism – it’s an essential component of it:- 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We must buy, buy, buy.

  We live in rural north-west Spain, where people riding around on donkeys can be seen daily but where, according to U-Switch, the annual Quality Of Life Index is far, far above that of the UK. People are simply not judged on what they own, and there is hardly any concept of conspicuous consumption. Advertising is minimal, and people help each other. This constant need to own anything more than the basics is totally alien to them. Why would they need anything else, and their attitude is completely different to that expressed by western Europe. It will change of course – unfortunately.

• e_m_w

  I agree with you. We are trained since birth to buy buy buy.
  Im from Dublin but live in london.
  But i do go back frequently.
  Since the recession there i have seen a sea change in peoples attitudes.
  Irish people were the most vulgar ostentatious capilists imaginable, obsessed by things house prices and money.
  The one benefit of the recession has that people seem to have woken up to whats real. A sense of community has returned, there are alot of people in deep trouble there, but the sense of unity and a real not contrived idea of we are in thids together seems to pervade.

• Jubileegirl

  Advertising pays your wages, Josh.

• Jubileegirl

  I agree. We should all swap our cars for a donkey. Not only will that save money, it’ll help save the planet too. And help the tomatoes and other vegetables along nicely too.

• Insouciant

  I’ve just seen the other pictures on the Telegraph website and it seems that Ian Botham is actually a magician…

  He’s eating a Snickers with his left hand while it’s still inside the wrapper in his right hand.

• leigh_vernier7

  My work helping companies grow takes in advertising.
  A few comments.
  Most advertising is a waste of time, money and effort.
  Too many brands still think irritating repetition is good.
  It ain’t.
  It slowly builds negative responses to the brand.
  Most ad agencies don’t understand consumer motivation and brands.
  They accept rational explanations as facts.
  The ideal marketing approach?
  Make your product for a previously defined market.
  Make sure it offers acceptable performance and is fairly priced.
  Spend time, money, research etc to find channels to
  take your brand to those niches with – “a high propensity to consume”.
  Encourage customer dialogue and feedback.
  Act on what customers tell you.
  Adopt a constant product development programme
  to identify and introduce genuine product/brand improvements.
  The good news.
  Consumers are becoming more and more discriminating.
  The world needs brands backed by legislation on quality
  performance etc and control on what advertisers can claim.
  Would you buy products in plain boxes, with no knowledge
  on quality, performance, value?