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.