How often do you buy things because a celebrity or influencer you admire has endorsed them? If you’ve done this often, what is a recent example?
Look at the illustration above. Do you know what it is about? If not, before you read the article, what’s your guess?
In “The Era of the Celebrity Meal,” Anna P. Kambhampaty and Julie Creswell write about the current trend of fast food chains hiring celebrities to pitch their products. The article begins:
On a Friday afternoon in the spring of 2020, Hope Bagozzi, the chief marketing officer at the Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons, was on a Zoom call with representatives for Justin Bieber.
The agenda for the meeting? Exploring a possible partnership between the two Canadian greats.
The call was business-as-usual but took a surreal turn when suddenly, Ms. Bagozzi remembered, a black box that had been silent on the screen turned on, revealing the presence of Mr. Bieber himself. He spoke about how much he enjoyed eating Timbits, the restaurant’s bite-size doughnuts. At one point, Mr. Bieber pulled out a guitar to perform a song about Tim Hortons that he used to sing to his siblings.
“I was texting my husband saying, ‘Justin Bieber is singing to us,’” Ms. Bagozzi said, laughing. “You could’ve knocked me out of my chair.”
The result of the call was Timbiebs, a limited-edition line of doughnut holes in flavors dreamed up by the pop star and Tim Hortons’ in-house chef, which includes chocolate white fudge and birthday cake waffle. They hit restaurants in November.
Welcome to the era of the celebrity happy meal. Fast-food companies are tripping over themselves to align their products with supernova musicians and influencers in the hopes that their menu items will appeal to a younger audience. For consumers, it is a relatively cheap and easy way to connect with their favorite celebrities or influencers.
Many of the megastars the companies are courting are more than willing to cooperate, sometimes initiating the partnerships themselves. After seeing Mr. Bieber’s deal, Michael Bublé posted a TikTok video to suggest a doughnut-based collaboration of his own: Bublébits.
Students, read the entire article, then tell us:
Have you ever bought something because you saw a famous person talking about or using it?
Has your opinion about a brand or company ever changed because a celebrity or influencer you like (or don’t like) endorsed it?
How many of the partnerships mentioned in the article did you already know about? What is your reaction to them?
Does it matter to you if the celebrity or influencer has a history of liking and using the products they endorse? Do you think Mariah Carey, BTS and Saweetie really eat at McDonald’s?
What do you think of the criticism that “celebrity meals,” which are often high in calories, fat or sugar, target children? Should more healthful menu items be part of these partnerships? Why or why not?
What products or companies would you like to see your favorite famous people endorse?
If you were famous, and companies approached you for partnerships, which would you choose? If you were offered a deal, but you didn’t like the product, would you still say yes? Why or why not?
Want more writing prompts? You can find all of our questions in our Student Opinion column. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate them into your classroom.
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
