Dead Celebs Growing Bolder

Posted April 4, 2008, 8:09 am in Entertainment by Growing Bolder


This is really growing bolder. Even death doesn't slow down some celebrities. The famous deceased are in demand for advertising and marketing. According to Forbes magazine's seventh annual list of "Top-Earning Dead Celebrities," the top 13 dead celebrities raked in $232 million in combined revenue in 2007.

The study measures "Q Scores" of celebrity endorsement candidates, dead or alive. A Q score represents the appeal and familiarity of a celebrity, brand, TV show, etc.

It's assumed that Q Scores for virtually any famous deceased figure would decline as time goes by ("out of sight, out of mind") but that's not always the case.

It turns out that Q Scores for Lucille Ball, Louis Armstrong, Elvis Presley and John Belushi have barely budged over the past decade. Elvis (deceased since 1977) still rules when it comes to familiarity, recognized by 98% as of last year.

However, Ball (deceased since 1989) is nearly as familiar (96%), and she beats The King on popularity, with a Q score of 52% to his 36%.

Belushi (deceased since 1982) comes in with 92% familiarity and a 31% Q, up five points from 1997. Armstrong (deceased since 1971) is familiar to 88%, with a Q of 26% -- down one point on the former, but up three on the latter.

The most popular of all dead celebs with today's consumers are Ball, Walt Disney, Bob Hope, John Wayne and ... Red Skelton. No one can really explain that.

It seems that those who made us laugh tend to dominate the upper ranks of the beloved. In addition to Hope and Skelton, those with consistently high Q scores over the years include The Three Stooges, Don Knotts, John Ritter and Charles Schultz.

Which dead celebrities have the least appeal? Alan King, Joey Bishop and Andy Kauffman are among those with single-digit Q scores.



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