Paid celebrity endorsement in health promotion: a case study from Australia.
In late 1998, Australian cricketer Shane Warne was allegedly paid A$200 000 ( pound78 060, US$123 000) by a pharmaceutical company to publicize his attempt to stop smoking. Warne failed to stop, and his continuing smoking remained newsworthy more than a year later. The arrangement caused considerable media controversy about the ethics of payment for charitable or socially worthy actions. This paper explores the community's reaction to payment for modelling a healthy behaviour, discussing the values that Warne transgressed and whether these mattered, given that the campaign caused an unprecedented rise in the use of nicotine replacement therapy.
Chapman
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Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Sydney, Sydney 2006, Australia. Simonc@health.usyd.edu.au
Leask
J A
JA
D000329:Advertising; D001315:Australia; D004345:Drug Industry / Q000592:standards*; D004989:Ethics; D005197:Famous Persons; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D008402:Mass Media; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D013177:Sports