Is sexiness a brand? How three stars handle their image

By SAMANTHA ETTUS
Scripps Howard News Service
17-JUN-04

As People magazine gets ready to launch another hottest-bachelors issue, I've been wondering: Does sexiness make a brand?

When we consider Pamela Anderson, Angelina Jolie and Rob Lowe, we realize that sex appeal is only one ingredient in what makes up a celebrity or star. It is the overall recipe that determines the success or failure of a career.

This week, let's look at how a sexy image has impacted three celebrities' personal brand management.

The brand-assets meter measures brand management and ranges from $ to $$$$.

Pamela Anderson:

This starlet has fully embraced her sexiness and, given her recent return to the cover of Playboy, shows no signs of stopping. Since rising to fame with a starring role on "Baywatch," she has launched two other shows, "VIP" and "Stripperella," an animated cartoon. Anderson embraces her sexy image without apology and uses it to her advantage. Whether you find this appalling or simply savvy, she deserves credit for her consistency, keeping a similar image through singlehood, motherhood, marriage and divorce. She exudes an oversexed yet sweet persona to media and colleagues alike. Anderson has never disappointed her fans and masterfully managed to hold the public's interest in her self-created brand.

Brand: A$$$$ets

Angelina Jolie:

Angelina Jolie was notorious for her sexy, outlandish behavior and her often-bizarre marriage to Billy Bob Thornton. More recently, the 28-year-old has refocused her energies on motherhood and her favorite charity without compromising her burgeoning film career. How did she make the shift? Jolie has used her celebrity to draw global attention to refugees and has put her money where her mouth is, adopting a young Cambodian refugee and visiting war-torn parts of the world, where she's donated considerable sums on humanitarian relief. But make no mistake: Jolie has not taken a break from her primary trade. Having shot seven movies in the last two years, her film career is stronger than ever. The Oscar winner leveraged her sexiness into stardom but has since relied on raw acting talent, leading to both Hollywood success and time for her family and the causes she's passionate about.

Brand: A$$$ets

Rob Lowe:

Rob Lowe was perhaps the biggest sex symbol of the 1980s, appearing in numerous films, including "About Last Night" and "St. Elmo's Fire." But Lowe proved that sex doesn't always pay when his career was derailed by a sex scandal involving a video camera and an underage teen _ an incident that resulted in a sentence to 20 months of community service.

Lowe's comeback has proceeded at a turtle's pace, highlighted by his turn on TV's "The West Wing." After four magical seasons, Lowe dropped back to earth with the launch of "The Lyon's Den," a show that lasted just one season. But he hopes to score big again with a starring role in "Dr. Vegas," a new TV series launching this fall. Lowe has recovered from a near-career-death experience by starring in projects that veer away from the risque, allowing the public to disassociate him from his scandalous past. Still, Lowe's experience proves that, even in Hollywood, it is possible to take the sex-symbol image too far. Further demonstrating his desire to be taken seriously, Lowe stars as a scruffy writer in TNT's new Stephen King miniseries, "Salem's Lot." It airs Sunday and Monday, beginning at 8 p.m. EDT.

As long as he stays on his current path, Lowe's brand will keep soaring.

Brand: A$$ets

Remember: the most dependable road to the top is to treat your brand as your greatest asset.

(Samantha Ettus, president of Ettus Media Management, is a leading voice on personality-driven brands. Her first book, "The Experts' Guide to 100 Things Everyone Should Know How To Do" (Random House), will be published in September. For more information, go to www.theexpertsguideto.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com)