Celebrities' Liability for Service & Product Endorsement

Abstract

Advertising by celebrities has become one of the most effective techniques for producers, especially wealthy ones, to encourage consumers to buy their products. Celebrities are compensated in return for participating in such advertisements and allowing producers to use their fame for advertising products and services. Furthermore, the right of publicity prevents unauthorized commercial use of their names, likenesses, or other recognizable aspects of their identities. Can the celebrity as well as the producer be held liable if a consumer suffers a loss or damage as a result of using a product in which a celebrity has been featured in the advertisement? To answer this question, this article claims that according to general principles of civil liability of the Iranian legal system (the rule of deception, prohibition of right abuse, and the rule of interest-risk), celebrities are liable when they make an endorsement for a product or service because they induce reasonable reliance for consumers to buy that product or service. It means that they are liable only if relying on their endorsements of products and services, which seems justifiable for a reasonable person.

Keywords

• celebrities
• right of publicity
• endorsement of products
• reliable
• reasonable