Advertising in India today feels less like brand storytelling and more like a celebrity catalogue. From biscuits and toothpaste to fintech apps and luxury cars, the same starry faces front campaigns across categories. Bollywood royalty and cricket icons - with the odd other sports or TV star thrown in - have virtually monopolised ad space. The bigger question: Amid this glittering star parade, are brands losing their voice? Are brands are sidelining authentic storytelling in favour of quick-fix fame?

Piyush Pandey, chief advisor, Ogilvy India, minces no words: "The ad world has become quite lazy in the sense that they think if they have a celebrity on board, then they can get away with anything. Don't make dwindling attention span an excuse for doing bad work." For the adman, for whom it was always about 'idea-first, and not celebrity-first', the belief is that 'even Amitabh Bachchan cannot salvage a bad script!' 

Actors in ads, per se, aren't the problem - but rather how they are used. "If one has a good script, then there's no harm in using a celebrity. The problem arises when a celebrity is slapped onto an ad without having an idea in place. The client is happy as long as he gets to click pictures with a famous face. But this isn't their own money to fritter away - its sheer wastage of resources," Pandey stated categorically.

Numbers reveal just how deep the fixation runs. Celebrity-led TV ads have more than doubled in the last decade, with film stars cornering 77% of endorsements, according to TAM AdEx. 

Using celebrities in ad campaigns may be the easiest way to grab attention (and we all know how precious attention is these days). But while celebrities may spike awareness, does it work in the long run? As Kalpesh Patankar, group CCO, VML India, puts it, "This pursuit of quick attention through celebrity endorsements often risks overshadowing or diluting the brand's long-term narrative." 

Celebrity fatigue is another vital factor. The same actor or cricketer endorsing ten categories blurs credibility and recall. Brand strategist Harish Bijoor cautions: "There is a star who endorses 14 different brands. Will the consumer actually believe that he has done due diligence on each, and is a loyalist to every brand?" 

In the September issue of Manifest, we explore whether the industry's growing over-reliance on star power and celebrity endorsements comes at the expense of core brand storytelling.

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