A week into the Olympics and the world viewed Ryan Lochte as the lovable if somewhat rogue-ish all American swimming champ with 12 gold medals for the United States. No one could have guessed he would turn into an international pariah overnight after lying about a robbery that never took place and vandalizing a gas station - least of which included his many celebrity sponsors.
But surprised do happen - and that's saying it nicely. Brands need to be aware that they either need to diversify by having more than one celebrity endorser at a time, or have a plan in place if havoc breaks out. In this blog, Hollywood Branded looks at celebrity endorsements that have been lost due to bad behavior - and how to safeguard your brand.
These included deals with Ralph Lauren, Speedo, Syneron Candela's Gentle Hair Removal and Japanese company Airwave. Despite his apology, almost all of his sponsors dropped him as a celebrity endorsement following his false police report and clear disrespect for the city in which he was competing. And one quick thinking sponsor signed him up too!
In perhaps the most infamous fall from grace in celebrity endorsement history, Forbes estimates that Lance Armstrong lost close to $150 million after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency gave him a life-long ban and stripped away his 7 Tour De France wins.
Speedo, Ralph Lauren and the rest of Lochte's endorsements were not the first and will most certainly not be the last companies to have a celebrity endorsement go wrong on them. Celebrities slip up and they brands they endorse often step away as quickly as they can.
Of course, you or your brand can't possibly foresee a beloved celebrity acting in a horribly unexpected way. However with a quick-witted marketing team and a speedy reaction time, your brand can turn an unfortunate situation around, the way Speedo's did.
Also, making clear your expectations and rules for the endorsement should be clearly outlined in the contract, including a morality clause that allows you to quit the contract should the celebrity violate your brand's image with their actions. Immediately.
The truth is, the benefits of celebrity endorsements far outweigh the risks of their bad behavior. And most celebrities play well, as they know it's their career at stake. It is a proven fact that celebrities influence consumer trends and purchasing habits. As long as you have safeguard, your brand should be a-ok. And consumers know that brands are not the direct reflection of a celebrity. To err is human, and perhaps erring as a celebrity just humanizes them all the more.
To obtain an accurate reading, police officers must follow a motorist suspected of speeding for at least 3/16 of a mile. Also, because speedometers are not always accurate, the speedometers in police cars are calibrated regularly to ensure accuracy so that evidence can be used in court. Every car has its own logbook for officers to track and record each time the speedometer is tested and calibrated.
In some cars, drivers must account for as much as a 10% margin of error in terms of speedometer accuracy; tire wear and aftermarket modifications, such as different tire sizes and gearing, can cause erroneous speedometer readings.
Most new speedometers are believed to function with a 5% margin of error. However, the margin of error still causes accused motorists of arguing in court that they were, in fact, not traveling as fast as the reported speed. In 1997, the federal standards in the United States for speedometer readings allowed for a maximum 5% error.
The most important factor in the pacing method is a properly calibrated speedometer. There are several ways that a speedometer can be calibrated. Police speedometers are sometimes calibrated on a rolling road at regular intervals to ensure their accuracy.
Other methods include using a fifth wheel that is added to the rear of a vehicle, clocking the police car over a measured course using a stopwatch that has been tested and certified, or using a device called a dynamometer, which lets the wheels on the police car rotate in place while the device checks the speedometer for discrepancies. The latter is believed to be the best technique, but it is also the most expensive.
Why? Because in 1979, then-president Jimmy Carter signed a law that mandated car speedometers could only go up to 85 mph. The legislation was an effort to discourage speeding, and although it was revoked in the late 1980s, it was still in effect when the DMC-12 was built, and when the movie was filmed.
Companies and celebrities have a balance of benefit-and-hurt. Giving different focus on the role of celebrity in brand image outreach, companies use two types strategies : group endorsement and exclusive endorsement.
From Ricky Martin giving us naked tanning tips to Zane Phillips showing off his buns in a new underwear photoshoot to Luke Evans still reigning as the supreme king of Speedos, celebrities have been gracing us with all sorts of thirst traps on social media lately.
Summer may be officially over, but certain celebs are completely ignoring the calendar by keeping things hot and sweaty on their social media pages. In the last few weeks, tons of famous guys have been sharing pictures and videos by the pool, in sexy photoshoots, at the beach, and at the gym. There are also those who are deliberately thirst-trapping, and we have literally zero complaints!
Lochte is far from the first celebrity athlete to be dropped by a major sponsor following a public fall from grace. A study by the University of California estimated that shareholders of Nike, Gatorade and other Tiger Woods sponsors lost a collective $5 to $12 billion in the wake of his extramarital affairs.
Some of the celebrities whose names and details were used by the fraudsters are Abhishek Bachchan, Shilpa Shetty, Madhuri Dixit, Emraan Hashmi and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of Shahadra Rohit Meena said.
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