With all the recent press surrounding the Tiger Woods’ scandal, we can’t help but think of the effect it’s having on the countless brands he endorses. This entire fiasco is a PR disaster for the fashion brands associated with Woods. So, what do you do, when your brand gets so enormously shit on, like Tiger just did to all his endorsers? This is certainly not the first time a celebrity has embarrassed a brand by their bad behavior, from Kate Moss to Martha Stewart, it is an all too common occurrence. But, thank you Tiger Woods for creating a PR F-up of epic proportions. One of his biggest sponsors, Nike, is famous for their “Just Do It” campaign, which is rather ironic now considering he just did it, and did it again, and again, and again! And what kind of spokesperson is he now, for the venerable TAG Heuer brand? Their slogan sadly is, “What are you made of?” Which we, and no doubt his wife, would like the answer to. Really Tiger, what ARE you made of? Who does that? Of course, there are many who follow the, “any press is good press” mentality. Since we are a design blog and hardly PR experts we are curious; does this motto hold up for brand images and is it supported by an increase in sales? The whole, “as long as their talking about me and spelling my name right” mentality, may work for celebrities and movie promotions, but does hold true for apparel and accessories sales?
This year we had a plethora of celebrities proving to be PR nightmares for fashion brands. One of the most publicized of the year is, father of eight and reality star, Jon Gosselin. Jon is now as famous for his breeding ability, as his love of Ed Hardy T-shirts. For some unknown reason designer Christian Audigier decided that Jon would be a good face for his Ed Hardy brand and even flew him overseas to discuss Gosselin’s design ideas. At the time the press Gosselin was receiving was daily, if not hourly, and the Ed Hardy t-shirts he was sporting insured the brand constant media coverage. However, as Gosselin turned from America’s #1 dad to America’s #1 douche bag, he took the Ed Hardy name down with him. The brand became the butt of a national joke. Ed Hardy is now synonymous with the unemployed, middle aged, overweight, media whore, that is Jon Gosselin (along with the desperate, aging, MILF’s who adore him). While Christian certainly got brand recognition from millions who had never heard of Ed Hardy before, was the now tarnished brand image worth all of the attention? Overall, has the Ed Hardy brand seen a rise or decline in US sales since the Gosselin debacle?
Another unfortunate celebrity fashion pairing, is the odd venture of Lindsay Lohan and Ungaro. As we mentioned in a previous post, the decision for an esteemed luxury brand like Ungaro to bring on the hot mess known as LiLo, as not only the face of the brand, but the designer, was a train-wreck waiting to happen. Unlike the Gosselin case where Audigier seems to have cut and run, or the Woods’ disaster where brands are scurrying to protect themselves, Ungaro seems to have embraced this catastrophe. Not only have they kept LiLo on as a spokes person, but they’ve invited her back to design their next collection. What may have seemed like a one time PR stunt gone wrong, appears now to be a long term endeavor to sully the brand’s name indefinitely. So it seems in this case, the press and media attention though negative, has been deemed worthwhile by Ungaro.
As a consumer how much do brand images effect your purchases? Do you support brands whose spokespeople you find offensive? Would you not buy a pair of Nike’s because Tiger Woods is a dirty bastard? Should consumers punish the brand for poor choices made by their spokespeople?
How about taking those questions to the next level. What if it is the brand itself, i.e. the owner or designer who is the problem? For example, Karl Lagerfeld’s recent public comments regarding heavier women not deserving his high-end designer clothing. Or, Dov Charney, the owner of American Apparel, known for exploiting young women in advertising and in the workplace. Or to the extreme, high-end fashion designer and owner of his own label Anand Jon who is also now a convicted rapist of over a dozen girls.
Recently, the Guardian UK wrote the following on the Tiger Woods’ scandal, “The suppress agents behind the biggest stars attempt to keep them hermetically sealed away, trading sycophantic stories off in friendly papers and magazines against bigger revelations elsewhere. But when a damaging story about a celebrity of Woods’s stature breaks, it breaks big because of the scarcity of real information in the vacuum that has been created around them.” This brings up an excellent point, our culture puts celebrities, athletes, fashion designers, and even reality stars, on an unrealistic pedestal. Whether it’s the glamorous persona of a fashion designer, or the wholesome image of a father of eight, it is often just a one dimensional PR creation and not reality. Since people are fallible, (including celebrities) perhaps brands should move away from using their false images to sell products. In a time of paparazzi and 24-hour media coverage, it seems the PR risk for a brand is just too high. If celebs can’t live up to the pedestal we want them on, perhaps they should not be put up there in the first place. Simultaneously of course, they should not reap the financial rewards from marketing their fictitious image.
So what’s your take on brand images? Do these celeb scandals affect how you spend your buying dollar? What would you do if it was your brand in the headlines?
The original post is created by: 39th and Broadway
