Posted by Legal Loophole Exploits Celebrity Name Recognition
Dwayne Johnson, Serena Williams, Michael Jordan, and Ronaldo all showed up in marketing campaigns for Surreal Cereal – a high protein, low carb cereal brand launched in 2022, touted for having zero sugar but tasting like your childhood favorites.
The trouble is, none of the celebrities with those names actually participated in the company’s taste test.
Nevertheless, banners like “Dwayne Johnson Loves Surreal Cereal” and “Official Cereal of Ronaldo” were pasted across billboards and advertisements for the product. Which begs the question, how can they get away with it?
To be fair, individuals with the names Dwayne Johnson, Serena Williams, Michael Jordan, and Ronaldo did, in fact, participate in the taste test. They were part of a marketing campaign by Surreal to promote their new product using the loophole known as “creative positioning.” The goal is to create a lasting impression and influence consumer behavior.
Working off a low budget with no room for the high price tag of celebrity endorsements, Surreal skirted the issue by finding real people who share celebrity names. Technically, these lesser known folks did endorse the cereal. Further, Surreal’s ads contain fine print at the bottom with disclaimers like “Dwayne Johnson is a bus driver from London.”
And just like that, the ad becomes legal.
The use of creative positioning in advertising passes legal scrutiny as long as it respects intellectual property rights, and doesn’t infringe on logo designs that appear too similar to an existing one. But a further requirement gets muddier: that it doesn’t mislead or confuse consumers.
Advocates say creative positioning can make a brand more memorable and easier for customers to recall, as well as foster emotional connection to build brand loyalty. In this case, it’s also more economical on the advertising budget for an emerging brand.
But opponents insist if the ad is perceived as inauthentic, it can lead to negative backlash that could damage the brand’s reputation. And it piggybacks on the popularity of celebrities without paying them a cent for their notoriety.
Still, it’s memorable. Eddie Maalouf, host of the BAD Marketing podcast, describes Surreal’s campaign as “a masterclass in creative loopholes. Instead of paying big money for attention, they earned it through creative positioning.”
The verdict is still out – is creative positioning a legitimate marketing technique, or a clever con? See more here.