We all know celebrities are Big Business.

However, pop culture entertainment value aside, there is a terrific danger for businesses that make their brand indistinguishable from celebrity.

The latest business/celebrity revelation adds fuel to what was the finally subsiding options scandal: apparently, Steve Jobs may have received some special financial privileges which weren’t exactly handled by the book.

Shocker? Apple’s been delaying its year-end report for weeks now. Something obviously was up.

And this is a biggie. The iPod company had previously stated that Jobs was nowhere near any of Apple’s options issues. Suddenly they figure out that he was chest-deep in them?

This indicates how far a company, even a smart company can be forced to go - in other words, too far - when it’s trying to shield a celebrity executive from harm’s way. If Jobs was anyone other than Jobs, full disclosure would have taken place months ago, when Apple was first mired in the controversy.

Instead, we have a Cinderella-story company taking a long walk way out on an SEC-shortened plank to protect not just an individual, but the harsh reality that Jobs isn’t just Jobs, he’s the personification of Apple’s professional reputation. If he falls, you better believe Apple’s stock price will be in free fall right behind him.

Get ready for crazy talk: What if you made your product and service, not some excecutive celebrity, what it is that your business revolves around? What if you stayed focused on that? What if you just sold customers on that? What if you got the press excited about that?

It’s a gold-standard business practice, and it’s also more conservative. After all, what happens if the celebrity not only blows it, but decides to jump ship?

Get your business the photo ops and red carpet treatment it deserves. Develop a cult of personality that puts your business model first, and celebrity modeling far, far behind.

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