For shame, these celebrity spokespeople!
Don’t you know you were representing a brand (or many brands) when you slept with porn stars, allegedly got off to child porn… or did any number of other reprehensible things?
In light of Jared Fogle getting into serious trouble with the law, we’re here to run down 13 of the most shamed celebrity spokespeople in business history.
Jared Fogle
Jared Fogle served as Subway spokesman for over 15 years. But it all came crashing down on the sandwich guru after federal agents raided his home and found evidence of child pornography.
Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods didn’t just lose a gorgeous wife by sleeping all around. He lost most of his endorsement deals.
Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby has not endorsed JELLO for a long time. But he’s included here because so many people still associate him with that snack item.
O.J. Simpson
O.J. Simpson represented Hertz for over a decade. The company pulled the deal after domestic abuse allegations cropped up in 1992. Two years later, The Juice was arrested for murder.
Sharon Stone
Sharon Stone was dropped by Christian Dior in 2008 after she made insensitive comments about an earthquake that took the lives of 68,000 people.
Madonna
Madonna was paid $5 million for Pepsi to use the song “Like a Prayer” in an ad. The track’s music video then featured rape and a burning cross and the company received flak about its decision.
Ludacris
In 2002, Pepsi pulled a commercial that featured the rapper after Bill O’Reilly characterized his lyrics as “immoral.†In the end, the company agreed to pay $3 to the Ludacris Foundation, an Atlanta-based nonprofit, in order to avoid a hip hop-wide boycott.
Chris Brown
Chewing gum maker Wrigley and the Milk Processor Education Program (which is behind the “Got Milk?” ad campaign) fought back and axed Chris Brown after he punched Rihanna in the face.
Helena Bonham Carter
Yardley cosmetics pulled the plug on its relationship with Helena Bonham Carter not long after the actress said that she never wore makeup and had no idea why the brand had chosen her to represent it.
Kate Moss
Kate Moss was caught snorting cocaine in 2005. As a result, she lost deals with Burberry, Chanel and H&M.
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant was accused of rape in 2004. The case never went to trial, but he still lost deals with McDonald’s and Nutella.
Charles Barkley
Charles Barkley still represents Weight Watchers… even after he was caught on a live microphone saying the following: “I thought this was the greatest scam going – getting paid for watching sports. This Weight Watchers thing is a bigger scam.”
Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps is a champion swimmer… and an occasional marijuana user. When photos of the latter practice came out in 2009, neither AT&T nor Rosetta Stone decided to renew deals with Phelps.