One of the perks of celebrity status is having access to brand endorsements. It’s one of the reasons why so many celebs are so wealthy . But having an endorsement today doesn’t mean you’ll have one tomorrow.
In the same way a job can fire you because you don’t display an appropriate attitude , a brand can drop a celeb when they feel that their reputations have taken a dip. Here are just some celebrities who’ve been dropped by their sponsors, and what they did to get dropped in the first place.
RELATED STORIES
Tiger Woods
In 2009, news broke of a huge extramarital scandal with Tiger Woods in the middle. The pro golfer had been caught cheating on his wife with dozens of women, and as a result, got dropped by a number of brands.
One such brand was Proctor & Gamble/Gillette.
By the end of 2010, Woods’s brand deal with Gillette was set to expire, and the razor company chose not to renew.
“Brands – particularly brands like Gillette – want winners and Tiger Woods isn’t a winner any more ,” Mark Borkowski, a PR professional, told The Guardian when news broke in 2010.
Whoopi Goldberg
In the 2000s, Goldberg acted as a spokesperson for Slim-Fast, which specializes in shakes to aid in weight loss. That is, until she made remarks about former president George W. Bush during a campaign event for presidential opponent John Kerry in 2004.
Goldberg made sexual jokes using Bush’s last name during the event.
After that, a Slim-Fast spokesperson stated, ” Ads featuring Ms. Goldberg will no longer be on the air .” Despite missing out on a multi-million dollar brand deal, Goldberg refused to apologize for her jokes.
Gilbert Gottfried
Gottfried landed himself in hot water in 2011 when he published a series of inappropriate tweets that made light of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan that year, which was responsible for the deaths of thousands of citizens.
As a result, Aflac dropped him as the voice of their mascot.
“Gilbert’s recent comments about the crisis in Japan were lacking in humor and certainly do not represent the thoughts and feelings of anyone at Aflac ,” a spokesperson said after the incident.
Michael Phelps
Phelps was once a huge name in the competitive swimming world. As the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, not everything has gone perfectly for the former swimmer.
At the age of 23, Phelps was caught on camera smoking marijuana.
The incident, which happened back in 2009, cost Phelps his brand deal with Kellogg’s.
While the incident sparked a lot of controversy at the time, most of his brand deals remained unaffected, but it was ” not consistent with the image of Kellogg ,” as they stated.
Sharon Stone
In 2008, Stone responded to an earthquake that hit China, which was responsible for at least 80,000 deaths.
During an interview at Cannes, she remarked on how the nation treats Tibet, further saying, “And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma ? When you’re not nice that the bad things happen to you?”
In response to this, Dior dropped Stone.
She later issued an apology, saying, “Due to my inappropriate words and acts during the interview, I feel deeply sorry and sad about hurting Chinese people.” Despite this, Dior did not continue their brand deal with Stone.
Kate Moss
In 2005, rumors began to spread that the model had been using cocaine. Shortly after the rumors surfaced, the then-31-year-old confirmed them to be true . As a result, multiple brands dropped her, including Hennes & Mauritz (H&M).
During the fallout of the incident, more and more brands announced canceled plans and collaborations with Moss.
Chanel had a contract with Moss that was set to expire that year. They did not renew. Burberry was another brand that had planned a campaign using Moss, but canceled it.
Paula Deen
For years, Deen was a Food Network staple, bringing buttery baked goods to our television screens. Then came the racism scandal , which not only shattered her public perception, but cost her pretty much all of her brand deals.
In 2013, the former TV personality admitted to making racist jokes.
Deen lost out on her deal with Food Network, who chose not to renew her contract. She also got dropped by Smithfield Foods and Caesars , which closed her casino restaurants.
Ryan Lochte
During the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Lochte told a story about being robbed at a gas station. He later stated that his version of events was greatly embellished, as he was intoxicated at the time. ” I was immature, and I made a stupid mistake . I’m human, and I’m just really sorry,” he stated.
In response, he was dropped by a number of brands, including Speedo.
The brand announced their decision to end the sponsorship deal, further stating, “As part of this decision, Speedo USA will donate a $50,000 portion of Lochte’s fee to Save the Children, a global charity partner of Speedo USA’s parent company, for children in Brazil.”
Kathy Griffin
Griffin technically didn’t have a brand deal with Squatty Potty. But she was paid to appear in a commercial for the bathroom stool brand, which was taken out of circulation. This is due to 2017 photos of the comedian holding a bloodied fake head made to resemble then-president Trump .
The photos sparked criticisms from both pro- and anti-Trump individuals.
Though she initially defended the photos, she later apologized .
In addition to her Squatty Potty commercial being pulled, Griffin was also removed from CNN’s annual New Year’s Eve show .
Kanye West
Kanye West has been making headlines in recent months, for all the wrong reasons. The rapper, who legally changed his name to Ye, has been dropped by a number of brands for his continuous racist and anti-Semitic remarks online.
“I can say antisemitic [expletive], and Adidas can’t drop me,” he said earlier in October.
Adidas did, however, drop him . In addition, Gap has ended their partnership with the rapper. Other brands such as Sketchers, TJ Maxx, Peleton, and Goodwill have all committed to remove products and/or music from their stores (and in the case of Peleton, from its classes).
