The Worst of Endorsement

This week’s blog will be a follow up of last week, discussing the worst endorsements and why they flopped. These will be a couple of endorsements that stick in my head for all the wrong reasons.

The first one that I will always remember is Kate Moss. Moss was dropped from numerous brands after allegations appeared in the press of her taking cocaine. Chanel, Burberry and Gloria Vanderbilt all dropped the star costing her £4 million a year in earnings. As well as this, H&M cancelled their campaign with her after she admitted her drug use and apologised.

Why would brands want Ms. Moss to be the face of their company when she’s on the front page of national newspapers with white powder all over her nose? This is not something people look up to. I do feel sorry for Kate Moss as she was once known as quite admirable but is now portrayed in a completely different light, making it difficult for her to gain back the reputation she once had. However, when you are in the limelight, you should take responsibility that a lot of people look up to you, so any bad decisions you make and the press can get a hold of is going to have a knock on effect to your career. Moss has actually managed to save herself though with companies such as Rimmel and Mango.

Another example of a celebrity getting dropped from an endorsement includes Tiger Woods. Although he’s doing just fine now with still millions to his name, there was a time he was dropped by many companies due to the fact he was having an affair. Gillette was in amongst one of the biggest ones to drop the golfing star during the time of the allegations although they claim that they were just refreshing their brand to continue to be relevant to customers. Convenient timing eh?

Although not this is not an example of an endorsement being dropped, it’s still something that ties into companies and their reputation through celebrities. Abercrombie and Fitch are known for their image of attractive models in their campaigns and as customer assistants and the idea of you are attractive if you wear their clothes. Jersey Shore star, Michael Sorrentino, also known as ‘The Situation’ was offered money by Abercrombie and Fitch for him NOT to wear their clothes. This was because they felt Jersey Shore and the cast wearing their products was damaging their reputation due to being Z list celebrities who were famous through the show which is generally about housemates spending their summer in Jersey and their antics of while they’re there. In a statement released by Abercrombie and Fitch about the situation they stated:

 “We understand that the show is for entertainment purposes, but believe this association is contrary to the aspirational nature of our brand, and may be distressing to many of our fans.”

This shows a desperate attempt of a company saving their reputation and being portrayed in the way the want to be portrayed, buy literally paying the people they don’t want to associate with not to wear their clothes.

My next blog will be about Z list celebrities, such as people from Geordie Shore and reality programme’s who now get paid to promote products on their social medias.