Celebrities have long been used as the face of brands. Since the early 1900s, brands have been leveraging celebrities to promote and sell their products. From Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall advertising Cigarillos to modern day brands like Nike, Apple, T-Mobile and Beats By Dre leveraging celebrities to endorse and build their brands.

Celebrity endorsements have and can reap huge rewards for a brand. Yet they have numerous pitfalls that a brand should consider before associating themselves with a celebrity, let alone building their brand upon a celebrity’s persona.

Today, brand ambassadors are the norm. Celebrity endorsements and celebrity-owned startups and ventures are not uncommon. Examples abound and include Jessica Alba, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashton Kutcher, and David Beckham, among others.

There are a number of advantages to using celebrities in advertising, whether running print, Internet, or radio or television commercials. The key for brands is making sure the celebrity is relevant and has broad appeal. Popular celebrities often work best because they naturally generate lots of attention. Despite their fan base, celebrities are most effective if they promote products or services they are most likely to use. In other words, they must be plausible consumers.

The affinity consumers have for certain celebrities can greatly influence their purchases. People may have the attitude, “If the product is good enough for her, it’s good enough for me.” This philosophy is often the impetus behind advertisements for makeup, skin creams, hair products, and attire. Consumers want the wavy hair of a local celebrity, for example. Hence, they purchase the brand that the celebrity uses to achieve her hair’s fullness and bounce. Essentially, the testimonial of the celebrity adds instant credibility to a company’s product.

Celebrity endorsements can improve ad recall, according to researchers Jagdish Agrawal and Wagner Kamakura. Celebrities in advertising build brand awareness and they build it much more quickly than traditional types of advertising. Brand awareness measures the percentage of people who are familiar with a particular brand.

Some companies use celebrities to position or re-position their brands. Product positioning is placing a company’s products in the best possible light in the minds of a target group.

One challenge brands face is finding new users for their products. Celebrities appeal to current customers, as well as those who have never tried a brand’s products.

Associated Risks

Yet even if a celebrity is a good fit for a brand, leveraging one for endorsements has its own set of possible risks. They include, but are not limited to: images changing, celebrities becoming overexposed, and celebrities overshadowing brands.

Celebrities are people, and people make mistakes. And when they do, they can affect the brands they endorse. In 2009, Tiger Woods’s public image crumbled after his infidelity with a number of women, including porn stars. General Motors, Gillette, Accenture, and Gatorade dropped Tiger to avoid negative perception, while Nike stuck around and lost customers.

At the height of Tiger Woods’s popularity, he endorsed over 10 companies at once. When a celebrity works with so many companies, the celebrity’s credibility may suffer. People may feel that the celebrity will endorse anything to make a buck.

Consumers may focus on the celebrity, not the product. This is a particular danger when celebrities endorse multiple products at the same time. David Beckham endorses a number of companies, which feature him prominently in print advertising. That said, his image as the focal point of the advertisements he’s in, devalues the products around him.

So Who Are The Canna-Celebrities?

High-profile celebrities partnering with private companies for mutual gain is hardly a new concept. In the cannabis industry, however, it’s one that’s gaining traction.

Many cannabis companies have inked deals with celebrities that have long been associated with cannabis. Other celebrities have started up their own product lines, opting to do it their way instead of partnering with established firms.

Among the relationships forged to date include Tommy Chong’s partnership with Marisol Therapeutics. Seattle-based Privateer Holdings struck a deal with reggae legend Bob Marley’s estate in 2014, and rapper Snoop Dogg licensed his name to a line of vaporizers manufactured by Grenco Science. “It’s really been the partnership with Snoop that has taken us to the next level and separated us from other brands in the market,” said Tim Patenaude, vice president of Grenco Science. Most recently, Snoop partnered with LivWell, one of the largest pot-shop operators and cultivators in Colorado for his “Leafs By Snoop” brand.

The proliferation of cannabis-related businesses means that business owners are seeking new ways to differentiate their brand and stand out in the minds of consumers.

Celebrities are escalating their cannabis commercialism beyond paraphernalia. For the first time, artists, directors, and even authors are directly lending their likenesses and names to cannabis products.

While there’s always been the “cannabis celebrities” like Tommy Chong, Jorge Cervantes, Jack Herer, and Ed Rosenthal, today there are television, movie, and pop stars participating at cannabis festivals and events, as well as licensing their names to various canna-brands. Think Seth Rogan, Whoopi Goldberg, and Sarah Silverman, just to name a few.

An example of cannabis making its way into mass media is the Wonderful Pistachios commercial featuring Snoop Dogg. Such suggestive spots pass over those heads that don’t “get it,” while those that do appreciate it that much more.

What’s more important is we’re not only seeing the emergence of celebrity cannabis brands, we’re seeing these brands forge strategic partnerships with recreational stores and dispensaries, growers and processors, and statewide distributors.

What’s In It For The Consumer?

A consumer reacts better to an ad when it gives them an incentive, a personal benefit, rather than one that is a hard sell—and celebrities bring more than a hard sell.

Celebrity marketing has a long history, including baseball gloves with players’ signatures or Arnold Palmer’s preferred golf clubs. The appeal is both the idea that a buyer has a shared experience with a celebrity and that a celebrity knows what constitutes top quality.

Perhaps nostalgia plays into the picture as well. As America’s roughly 78 million baby boomers reach their 60s, there is no doubt that nostalgia will most likely play an even more integral role in marketing than it already does. At a time when technology is advancing at an ever-increasing pace, legendary brands and institutions are toppling left and right. Nothing feels durable or lasting anymore. As consumers, we protectively cling to those brands that have not only endured from our childhoods, but bring us back to relive the memories of that simpler, more stable time—and celebrities such as Chong, Nelson, Snoop, and others feed that need.

Despite the saturation of celebrity news and gossip, there was no sign that the public’s appetite for celebrity has diminished. Certainly marketers appear to be employing them as much as or even more than ever before.

As cannabis moves to mainstream and additional states legalize, there will be more and more business opportunities for celebrity endorsements. Some predict there will be a handful of legacy brands between the Marley family, the Chong endorsement, the Jimi Hendrix family, and the Snoop Dogg group.

Time will tell.