Monday, February 9, 2009

The Unfortunate Downside of Forever

Last month I wrote about the perfect union between Chris Brown and Wrigley in the form of "Forever" and his remixed Doublemint jingle.  Unfortunately Chris Brown has proven himself to be less than an ideal celebrity endorser, which raises an important point:  just how "Forever" do brands want these endorsements to be?

Any brand embracing a celebrity spokesperson acknowledges that he or she may fall from grace (*cough* Michael Phelps *cough cough*).  But in 2009, disconnecting your brand from that celebrity is a lot more complicated than pulling TV creative.  Searching blogs for Doublemint will probably always bring up YouTube videos of Chris Brown and entries about the partnership, not to mention the product shot at the beginning of his music video and the jingle injected into the chorus of Forever.  Nothing dies on the Internet, especially when you've made a conscious effort to make it live there.

The more seamlessly you want your product to be associated with a performer or a piece of pop culture, the bigger risk you take.  Now I will escape into the smooth sounds of Umbrella and send out positive energy to Rihanna, wherever she may be...

2 comments:

Jacey Berg said...

I also thinks it makes a big difference on how many celeb endorsers you have (i.e. American Express, Pepsi, etc.). If you have a whole slew of celeb endorsers, it is easier to cut the scandalous fat with little attention, as opposed to having that intense one-on-one integration that Wrigleys has/had with Chris Brown. To summarize my random thoughts, perhaps using celebs as part of an idea within the campaign (Amex Cardmember campaign)as opposed to making them the campaign.

alicia houselog said...

Boo Chris Brown (if the allegations are indeed true.) <3 my RiRi.

 
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