Melbourne: Britney Spears might be one of the world’s biggest pop stars, but hotel heiress Paris Hilton is a favourite with ad-makers for endorsing products.

Although both the celebrities have had an equally troubled past, some advertising agencies consider 28-year-old Hilton to be a safer bet, reported the Sunday Telegraph.

“Britney is inconsistent,” said Jack Singleton, chairman of advertising agency Jack Watts Currie, whose clients include The Discovery Channel and Malaysian Airlines.

“We would not be sure what we would be getting with her. Would it be fat Britney or mad Britney?” he added.

Singleton, who helped bring Hilton to Australia at an estimated cost of USD 500,000 for beer label Bondi Blonde, thinks that her value is that she is always “in character”. On the other hand, Spears is considered worth only about USD 60,000 to endorse a product by ad honchos.

“It doesn’t really matter that she has done time in jail or appeared in X-rated videos as long as she is the right image for the brand,” he said.

This case damaged both Wal-Mart and the star that was connected with it. In 1996, the National Labor Committee found that Gifford’s clothing line (which Wal-Mart distributed) was being produced at a sweatshop in Honduras by 13- to 15-year-old girls working up to 75 hours a week for 31 cents an hour. The “slave shop” cat calls caused both Wal-Mart and Gifford a lot of negative press.

The Flintstones

Before they appeared on the lovable chewable vitamins that made every morning special, the Flintstones (circa 1961) were in an ad selling Winston cigarettes.

© AP Photo/Carlos Osorio

Martha Stewart

Kmart was hoping that Martha Stewart’s “Everyday” line would salvage the one-time retail giant from the depths of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Instead, soon after the line was released, the Feds charged Stewart with insider trading, and she soon after faced jail time for those charges. Although Martha and her brand (which is now being run by Macy’s) were able to recover, Kmart never did.

© AP Photo/Carlos Osorio

Kate Moss

In 2005, supermodel Kate Moss was photographed snorting cocaine. The photos appeared in a British tabloid. Chanel and Burberry backed out of their contracts with Moss soon after seeing the photos. One clothier, H&M, said they would honor their contract after Moss admitted to having a drug problem, but rescinded on their promised actions and dropped her as well.

Pepsi, Burberry, Chanel and H&M all axed Kate Moss after Britain’s Daily Mirror published photos of the supermodel allegedly snorting cocaine. Less than a year later she had deals with Calvin Klein, Longchamps, Bulgari, Stella McCartney and Virgin Mobile.

Michael Jackson

When the pop star was filming a commercial for Pepsi, in the ’80s, he stepped too close to some pyrotechnics and suffered from burns, which required immediate hospitalization. This began Jackson’s frequent plastic surgery operations.

Cybill Shepherd

In 1986, the Beef Industry Council hired actress Cybill Shepherd to expound on her beef cravings for the “real food for real people” campaign. Within weeks of the campaign starting in January 1987, however, Shepherd admitted in public that she tried to “stay away from red meat.” In January 1988, her contract was not renewed.

Eric Clapton

In 1988, Anheuser-Busch unveiled its new campaign for Michelob featuring Clapton’s remake of “After Midnight.” However, Clapton told Rolling Stone that he was battling alcoholism when he made the commercial and was in a detox facility by the time it came out.

O.J. Simpson

Hertz and O.J. Simpson were synonymous for 20 years. However, Simpson’s 1994 arrest for the murders of his ex-wife and her friend and subsequent trial made the ads irrelevant and dangerous for the No. 1 car-rental company.

The Olsen Twins

In 2004, the milk processors and dairy farmers responsible for the “Got Milk?” advertising campaign were forced to terminate ads featuring the two actors after Mary-Kate checked into a treatment facility for a “health-related issue” that some publications reported as an eating disorder.

Madonna

In 1989, after signing a $5 million deal with Pepsi, her lead single, the title track for the album Like a Prayer, was debuted as a Pepsi commercial. The squeaky-clean soda commercial debuted during an episode of The Cosby Show. But the following week, Madonna’s own video version of the song debuted on MTV. This version was not at all “family friendly” and had Madonna french-kissing a black saint in church, witnessing a graphic murder and then dancing in front of a field of burning crosses. Amid threats of boycotts, Pepsi yanked the commercial. But Madonna got to keep her $5 million endorsement.

Bill Maher

Shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, on Bill Maher’s Politically Incorrect show on ABC, panelist Dinesh D’Souza mentioned that he didn’t think the terrorists were “cowards,” as George Bush had described them. Maher replied: “We have been the cowards. Lobbing cruise missiles from two thousand miles away. That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building. Say what you want about it. Not cowardly. You’re right.” In response, Sears and Federal Express yanked their sponsorships of Politically Incorrect.

Ringo Starr

1987, in order to compete against Gallo and Seagrams and their huge ad budgets, Constellation Brands, maker of Sun Country wine collars, bought its own ads, featuring Ringo Starr. Starr soon revealed he was an alcoholic and was seeking treatment for alcohol abuse. Shortly thereafter, Constellation dipped into the red and its managers decided to let Sun Country die off.

Alan Alda

In 1988, Alan Alda was hired by IBM to serve as spokesman for its computers, including its laptop, expected to be released in 1989. However, in the fall of 1988, he was caught purchasing a rival Toshiba laptop. Shortly thereafter, IBM’s M.A.S.H. campaign ended, a new ad agency was hired and Alda was gone.

Bruce Willis

Seagrams hired bad boy Willis to market its wine coolers in 1987. After 18 months of commercials, Seagrams’ wine coolers went from No. 5 to No. 1 in that market, with Willis himself taking credit for it. However, alcohol problems led him to give up alcohol, Seagrams dismissed him from the campaign and Willis publicly said that the company wanted him to endorse hard liquor and he refused.

© Time Life Pictures/DMI/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

James Garner

In 1986, the Beef Industry Council of the Meat Board and the Cattlemen’s Beef Board hired Garner to market beef starting in 1987. In April 1988, while still serving as spokesman in ads, Garner had quintuple bypass heart surgery. He and the beef industry blamed cigarettes, not meat, for the surgery.

Cybill Shepherd

Shepherd was hired in 1986 to advertise Preference by L’Oreal hair dye (the ads where she says “because I’m worth it”). However, in an interview in October 1986 she said she did not color her hair. In a June 1988 interview, she inadvertently caused a problem when she said she was a natural blond and only colored a small lock on the back of her neck. A huge PR problem erupted in the media, with L’Oreal demanding answers from Shepherd, the actress not commenting, and the actress’ hairdresser saying she did not color her hair.

© STRAVATO MICHAEL/CORBIS

Whoopi Goldberg

July 2004, Goldberg mocked President Bush at a Democratic fundraiser and made sexual puns at his expense. Almost immediately, after expressing “disappointment” and regret over her comments, SlimFast dropped her as a spokeswoman.

© Oprah.com

Oprah and James Frey

Oprah recommended Frey’s book A Million Little Pieces and made it a book club selection, which propelled the book to best-seller status. It was later revealed that Frey had fabricated key parts of the memoir.

Chris Brown

In the wake of Chris Brown losing his endorsements (and credibility) after his fist allegedly connected with Rihanna’s face he lost his Wrigley’s and ‘Got Milk’ campaigns.

After allegedly assaulting girlfriend Rihanna, Chris Brown lost his Wrigley’s Doublemint and Got Milk? sponsorship deals.
His Doublemint ad involved him dancing with a packet of chewing gum to the tune of his hit song ‘Forever’, but the words were changed to “double the pleasure, double the fun… it’s the right one with Doublemint gum.” Genius marketing.

Jessica Simpson

While the spokeswoman for Tarrant Apparel Group who sued the pop star for $100 million dollars for not wearing the right brand of jeans. She was supposed to be sporting Jessica Simpson, JS by Jessica and Princy. She couldn’t even bring herself to wear her own jeans? They must’ve been bad.

Lindsay Lohan

Thanks to a stint in rehab, Lindsay Lohan was replaced by Hilary Swank as the face of Jill Stuart’s fashion label.

T.I

Rapper T.I was dropped by General Motors after he was arrested and charged with two felony weapons possession charges in 2007.

Charlie Theron

Glamazon Charlize Theron was accused by watch makers Raymond Weil of wearing another watch brand in public. This is the Dior that started the scandal.

Teri Hatcher

Desperate Housewives star Teri Hatcher is being sued for $2.4 million over lip gloss. According to the lawsuit, Hatcher’s 2005 contract to endorse Hydroderm states that she won’t endorse competing products but that she violated that contract when she endorsed CityLips, made by City Cosmetics.

The lawsuit says she starred in commercials wearing CityLips and saying she was a fan of the product. Hatcher’s attorney, Alan Wertheimer, responded to the suit calling it an “unjustified and public assault on Teri Hatcher’s good name.” He says they will seek compensatory and punitive damages for “Hydroderm’s outrageous accusations.”

Dan O’Brien and Dave Johnson

During the 1992 summer Olympics, Reebok spent $25 million on an ad campaign featuring the two track and field stars. Dan vs. Dave commercials ran almost non-stop, asking which would be the world’s best athlete and saying that the debate would be settled in Barcelona. The fact that Dan failed did not win a single medal in ’92 when he failed to score in the pole vault and Dave only captured bronze on a broken foot made the spots downright laughable.

Bode Miller

Speaking of Olympic endorsers who never did anything to live up to the height of their endorsements, in 2006, downhill skier Bode Miller made $4 million on ads and sponsorships by Visa and the pasta maker Barilla. Their choice in spokesman backfired when Miller did not win a single medal in the events he competed in, was constantly in the headlines for partying it up at the Olympics, and later revealed during a 60 Minutes interview that he did some races “wasted.”

Kobe Bryant

In 2001, when he was charged with sexual assault of a hotel employee in Colorado, Bryant, who previously had a good reputation as an athlete and person, lost his endorsement deals with McDonald’s, Sprite and Nutella.

Latrell Sprewell

During a practice in 1997, the Golden State Warriors pro basketball player suddenly attacked his coach, P.J. Carlesimo, twice. The team terminated Sprewell’s four-year, $32 million contract, and shortly thereafter, Converse terminated his endorsement deal.

Martina Hingis

In 1996, Hingis, then the top-ranked female tennis player, was an endorser for Italian sneaker and tennis gear company Sergio Tacchini, with a five-year, $5.6 million sponsorship deal. Under the terms of the agreement, Hingis was required to wear Tacchini sneakers and clothing at tournaments. But a few years later, Hingis sued Tacchini, claiming its shoes were defective, unsuitable for tournament play and the source of her devastating injuries at the 1998 U.S. Open, leading Tacchini to drop Hingis.

Magic Johnson

In November 1991, L.A. Lakers star Johnson stunned the sports world by announcing that he had been infected with HIV while cheating on his wife. Industry experts said within six months, all of Johnson’s sponsorship deals, including those with Pepsi and Converse, had vanished.

Mike Tyson and Robin Givens

In 1988, the married couple appeared in ads for Diet Pepsi. Tyson also appeared in ads for Toyota, Nintendo and Kodak. However, his personal problems, manifested by his divorce and allegations of abuse by Givens, led Pepsi to drop him in May 1989 when, at a commercial taping, Givens and her mother caused a commotion.

Jennifer Capriati

As a young tennis star, Capriati had a number of endorsement deals, including Oil of Olay, Diadora and racket maker Prince. However, in 1994, when she was arrested for drug possession, shoplifting and eventually checked into a rehab center, her sponsors all ran for cover.

Mike Ditka

In late 1988, Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka, who had been peddling Campbell’s soup in television commercials for more than a year, suffered a mild heart attack and was ordered to reduce his intake of foods high in cholesterol. As part of his low-cholesterol diet, Ditka stopped eating Chunky soups that contained beef. While Campbell’s continued the campaign for a few months through March 1989, Ditka was done.

© Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images

Michael Phelps

After a photograph of Michael Phelps smoking a bong he was dropped from a Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes promotion. For a few weeks it looked like ‘Bonggate’ was going to cost the swimming superstar all his endorsement deals, but Subway have stood by him.

Longman Dictionary – A famous person, especially in the business of entertainment.

Not incorrect but not quite there….I prefer Wikipedia’s definition:

‘A celebrity is a person who is famously recognised in society or culture…someone who gets media attention and most frequently has an extroverted personality.’

Some terminologies:

1) Reluctant celebrity – A celebrity that shies away from the public eye or keeps a very separate private life.

2) Media tart – A celebrity that seeks out publicity for him -or herself.

3) Media Whore – One who uses his or her private life as a vehicle for enhanced celebrity status.

To avoid confusion, only celebrities who have received extensive media coverage in mainstream media will be officially recognised as ‘celebrities’. These include prominent figures in entertainment, politics, religion, technology and a whole host of other spheres.

The following posts will examine the success and failure of celebrity endorsements, their impact on the media, society as a whole and on the celebrities themselves.

Mission Statement:

I will try my best to come up with excruciatingly long, jargon-laden posts and hopefully it would pass off as mind-blowing intellectual material. No apologies.