We love to see celebrities act like just like us! We see them in commercials or on billboards using products that we can afford to, and it somehow makes it seem they are on the same plane as us civilians.
Companies like to hire popular faces to promote their products because people can connect with them. Having their product linked to a famous celebrity helps form a bond with everyday folks like us. These Celebrity Endorsements can sometimes cause our favorite famous friends to become loyal for life – like Ashton Kutcher and basically any Nikon camera.
Sadly, there are some celebrities that don’t seem to love their job as the face of a product or company. Life doesn’t always imitate art, I guess. Whether it’s lack of enthusiasm or it just isn’t their thing, celebrities can betray their endorsements – and it can get shady.
3 Celebrity endorsements gone wrong
Alicia Keys and BlackBerry
Back on 2013, BlackBerry realized they were losing money, and losing it fast. They tried talking Facebook into buying them, but to no avail. What could help take a company out of near-bankruptcy? A famous face!
Evidently, Alicia Keys was looking to dabble in celebrity marketing at the same time, and somehow the stars aligned between the two. Keys signed a one-year contract to be a ‘Creative Director’ for the company, and things took off! Not really.
The collaboration didn’t make a difference for either party. One year later, Keys decided not to renew her contract. Her role did not come without scandal, though. Just days before the official announcement of her new position, she was tweeting via the social media’s iPhone application. Oops!
During her time at BlackBerry, she was caught doing tweeting again from an iPhone. Keys claims it was a hack, but maybe she was just embarrassed.
Jessica Alba and Her Windows Phone
Actress Jessica Alba once scored a deal with Microsoft to endorse their new smartphone. Microsoft didn’t give Alba a role in the company, but instead simply aimed at getting her in a picture with the Windows-powered device.
Alba went along with the deal, but never really used the smartphone herself. She was spotted, on more than one occasion, using her iPhone in public settings. The company had reportedly already ended their contract with Alba before she was seen with her Apple accessory, but she wasted no time dumping her device.
Ironically, Alba now runs a company called ‘The Honest Company.’ Hmm…
Oprah Brags About Surface… While Using Her iPad
If the ‘Big O’ says your product is worth buying, you’re probably set for life. When Microsoft was diving head-first into the waters of tablet-PC hybrids with their ‘Surface’ device, they didn’t even have to try for an endorsement.
Oprah sent a tweet to every housewife in America and bragged about her new Microsoft Surface and all its wonders. After further inspection, however, people realized she tweeted about this ‘favorite thing’ from her iPad.
Both Microsoft and Oprah’s reps claimed this wasn’t a paid endorsement, but still. If you’re going to brag about a product, it’s probably wise to use that product to do so!
As long as we have gadgets, we will have celebrity endorsements. What we’ve learned over time, though, is no matter how much money is involved, everyone seems to revert back to Apple. Coincidence?
