Raymond Weil, a Swiss watchmaker is suing South Africa born actress Charlize Theron for allegedly breaking an endorsement deal to wear only its timepieces.
The Oscar winning actress has been photographed wearing a Dior watch at a film festival news conference in Texas.
The watchmaker also complained that an advertisement for an Aids charity, in which Theron was wearing a non-Raymond Weil necklace, also breached the terms of the deal, which ran for 11 months last year.
It’s not the first time these kind of cases happened; I remember a few years back Hong Kong star Nicholas Tse (谢霆锋) also faced the same issue when he was photographed drinking Coca-Cola while he’s endorsing Pepsi.
A lawsuit seems harsh on Charlize Theron, but in my opinion the actress should be more careful with it. The watchmaker was paying million of dollars for her endorsement; it certainly hurts to see that the contract was not fulfilled completely.
[Source]
February 8th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Yeah, those entertainers need to take those contracts seriously. Those companies take their product endorsemnts seriously because as you say, they’ve got alot of money tied up in them.
I remember, hearing from a friend who knew sombody that worked at the major Advertising agency for Pepsi said they were not allowed to stock their vending machines with Coke. I guess that would be a slap in the face to some Pepsi excecutives if everyone at their meetings with agency directors were sitting there at the conference table with a CocaCola in hand. Wow, I could only imagine the tension there would be in that room.
February 8th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
There will be no tension in the room, the Pepsi exc. will leave the room the moment they see the Coke :D
February 9th, 2007 at 1:55 am
Yep, you are correct, he’ll leave the room alright, and take the entire Pepsi account with him. I know because it already happened. Not sure what the actual reason was, but several years ago Pepsi pulled it’s account from TLP (Tracy-Locke and Partners), one of the largest ad agencies in the world, over some sort of incident or dispute. That withdrawal also included Pepsi Foods (ie: Frito-Lay). Pepsi was with TLP exclusively for ‘years’ before that happened.
Just shows how seriously those big accounts take the money that they spend on advertising and endorsement of their product. Heh, they don’t fool around and long term partnerships don’t count for much if they are angered in any way. TLP never has completely made up for that loss in their account roster.
Alot of power those big corporations wield.
February 9th, 2007 at 2:11 am
Revise that note, I did a little quick research and TLP did regain some of the Pepsi account. Tracy-Locke and DDB Needum (The partner) merged to form one company, Tracy-Locke Inc. By the way, Pepsi foods also owns names like Pizza Hut.
February 9th, 2007 at 2:18 am
Ya, noticed that most of the fast food chains won’t be selling both Coca-Cola and Pepsi… I think KFC is owned by one of the 2 beverages as well.
February 9th, 2007 at 5:21 am
Yes, that’s a good observation about the fast food chains. They won’t be selling both.