Hey Miss Theron, do you have the time?
We all know that in this day and age everything is for sale. I mean, even the space on a someone’s arm is up for grabs. If you haven’t heard, the arm of actress Charlize Theron had a contract with luxury watchmaker Raymond Weil to wear their watches. However, she recently got herself in a bit of trouble. I originally read the article in the National Post but couldn’t access it online. Here are the details.
The idea of endorsement isn’t new. Associating a celebrity’s face with a product is a time honoured tradition of getting people to buy buy buy. But what makes me scratch my head is how responsible are the celebrities to the product itself. For example, Wayne Gretzky does commercials for Ford (among many). Does that mean he can only drive Ford? Technically, it would only make sense. As the consumer, how am I supposed to trust the endorsement if the person endorsing it isn’t using the product? I guess that would mean Britney Spears could only drink Pepsi and Sarah Jessica Parker could only wear clothes from the GAP (until, of course, they get dropped by their respective sponsors).
But, like you and I, celebrities don’t drink one kinda of pop, wear one brand of clothing or drive one type of car. Does it really harm the advertising strategy for the public to see the diversity among the endorsements? Do people actually expect Gretzky to drive a Ford? Is it really that big a deal?
In this particular case it is a big deal. Theron’s contract was meant for her to make Weil THE watch she wears, not A watch she wears. She is undermining the ad campaign if she publicly defies this principle. And that costs Weil a lot of money in bad publicity. Even more bad publicity now that they are suing her. I am curious to know how she is going to defend herself on this one…..
Weil: But Charlize we are paying you millions of dollars to wear our watch.
Charlize: Yeah, but I like this watch.
Weil: But Charlize, we are PAYING you. You signed a CONTRACT.
Charlize: Yeah, well, I signed with Dior as well.
Weil: To wear their watches?
Charlize: No. To look pretty in their perfume ads.
Weil: *&%^$!!!! Then why don’t you just stick to our contract, wear our watch and their perfume?
Charlize: I dunno. I guess it looked better with my outfit.
(this was a dramatization. no celebrities were harmed in the writing of this blog.)