I read the article. I understand the YouTube people because that is the media I consume. I guess my main question to the group is as follows:

Has a Celebrity Endorsement of a product made you want to go buy that product? I guess if you want to be technically correct Al Nagler is a 'celebrity' to amateur astronomers and on his endorsement and demo I bought some of his stuff. Now granted the man is a legendary optician who's equipment has radically altered the higher end of amateur astronomy but he is also the guy who made everything he sold for the first few years. David Levy endorsed a ton of stuff more fitting for the beginner/low end observer but I never bought anything based on "OMG DAVID LEVY ENDORSES THIS!"

I'd be curious as to the market research these guys are doing, and what the target audience is for the stuff they are advertising. $50K is not exactly chump change, and somewhere down the line you would think there was a cost/benefit analysis run on that expenditure. Or do the products being shilled have that high of a margin that the endorsement cash is a non-issue?

The more I think about it, the less certain that I have ever bought something due to a celebrity endorsement. My cars were researched and test drove. My banks I shopped around for. Other professional services are either provided by friends or friends of friends and personal referrals. And that makes me stop to think... is it due to me not consuming normal 'pop' media that I just don't care about the celebrity aspect?