Did you Know – Celebrity Endorsements Fails

Posted on 28. Jul, 2010 by Graham in Did you Know

Bob Hope peddled Pepsodent toothpaste, Bill Cosby sold Jello and Ronald Reagan smoked Chesterfield…

Stars have all jostled to align their names with famous brands in filthy-rich endorsement deals. But what may start like a marriage made in heaven can often go badly wrong. Like celebrity marriages, celebrity endorsements gone wrong can be pretty expensive and painful.

Yet, 74% of Americans say when a celebrity endorser gets involved in a scandal, it doesn’t impact the way they feel about the brand or brands they endorse. Just over one in five (22%) say they feel worse about the endorsed brands and 5% say they feel better about them. These are some of the findings of a new Adweek Media/Harris Poll, survey of 2,140 U.S. adults surveyed online between April 23 and 27, 2010 by Harris Interactive.

In 1987, the US Beef Industry Council paid Cybill Shepherd lots of money to tell everyone how much she loved beef in their “Real food for real people” campaign. It wasn’t so good when Shepherd admitted in public that she didn’t eat meat.
Hertz could not get enough of big handsome football hero OJ. Simpson’s mass appeal and aired dozens of Hertz ads from 1975. Now it’s stuck with the iconic image of OJ’s high speed freeway chase after which Simpson was charged with a double homicide, then tried and acquitted on national TV. Not the kind of Hertz driving experience it wanted!
The “Got milk?” campaign pulled ads with twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen in 2004 when Mary-Kate checked into a treatment facility for a “health-related issue” that publications reported as an eating disorder. Definitely not drinking her milk!
When a J&M announced that David Duchovny would front their ads on their venerable men’s shoe and leather brand, a spokesman said: “We are thrilled. David embodies success and confidence, along with a great sense of style, communicating the ideal image for the Johnston & Murphy brand.” Just as the ads began appearing, it was announced that Duchovny had checked himself into a rehab center for sex addiction! Oops.
Woods has been presented as the embodiment of bourgeois virtues: dedication, hard work, single-mindedness. When the scandal broke, his sponsors like Nike, Gillette, Accenture and Gatorade were quick to support him and then it got worse, a lot worse. Now Woods is without wife, mistresses and the dollars that made him the most highly paid sportsman in the world.
Less than a week after his dagga smoking pics hit the press, swimming sensation Michael Phelps found himself literally adrift in the deep end sans his lucrative sponsorship deals with Kellogg’s and Subway. He definitely can’t indulge his munchies now!
Kirstie Alley has always been a big boned gal and when she lost a large part of her bulk, she gained a very respectable endorsement deal with Jenny Craig, the weight control empire guru. And then she piled it on again – 75 pounds! She lost more than her waistline when she got the axe !
Chanel, Burberry and H&M cut model Kate Moss from their ad campaigns after photos appeared of her and then-boyfriend Pete Doherty snorting cocaine. Ironically, Moss had the last laugh or snort after a slew of other luxury brands later signed deals with Moss and even Burberry re-inked.
In 2001, Pepsi signed Britney Spears for tens of millions of dollars to be the face of their brand, but had to drop her after she was photographed drinking Coke on a regular basis. Perhaps the wrong brand match – may be cigarettes and vodka would be a little more appropriate?
Madonna by name and not by deed! 1989, Pepsi reneged on a $5 million deal they’d made with the singer Madonna after her racy video for “Like A Prayer” sparked an international controversy with the Catholic church and Catholics all over the world who threatened to boycott the drink for eternity!

Tags: Features