Entertainment
Paula Deen Loses Her Ham Deal: Other Celebs Who Have Lost Endorsement Deals
Sorry, any remaining Paula Deen fans out there, you're gonna have to get used to eating ham without her face on it. Following her racism scandal, Paula Deen was first dropped by Food Network and now by one of the companies she endorses, Smithfield Foods. Deen has been a spokesperson for the company's ham since 2006, endorsing a line of ham that even features the chef's face. But Deen isn't the first celebrity to lose an endorsement deal following public scandal, and probably won't be the last. Here are a few other celebs whose drama cost them millions.
Paula Deen Dropped like Pickles into a Deep Fryer
Sorry, any remaining Paula Deen fans out there, you're gonna have to get used to eating ham without her face on it. Following her racism scandal, Paula Deen was first dropped by Food Network and now by one of the companies she endorses, Smithfield Foods. Deen has been a spokesperson for the company's ham since 2006, endorsing a line of ham that even features the chef's face. But Deen isn't the first celebrity to lose an endorsement deal following public scandal, and probably won't be the last. Here are a few other celebs whose drama cost them millions.
Lance Armstrong
After the Tour de France winner confessed to doping throughout his cycling career, Nike dropped Armstrong from his extremely lucrative contract. He was then dropped by a few other companies he had endorsed, including Anheuser-Busch and Trek Bicycle Corp. Forbes estimates that Armstrong lost out on over $150 million in future earnings over the scandal.
Rihanna
Last August, Rihanna lost her endorsement deal with the skincare brand Nivea, but not over any specific scandal or issue — the company just decided they didn't like her. After the singer appeared in multiple ads, the new head of Nivea's parent company decided to stop the campaign, claiming that Rihanna went against NIvea's values of "trust, family and reliability.” Maybe Nivea hadn't heard any Rihanna songs before they signed her deal, but Rihanna's other endorsements, Armani and VIta Coco, seem pretty pleased with her.
Akon
Way back in 2007, when Akon was popular, he was featured in some ads for Verizon Wireless. Then a video of him simulating sex with a fan during performance at a Trinidad club went viral, and it was revealed that the girl was only 15 years old. Even after the singer's apology, Verizon wasn't pleased and ended their contract with him.
Michael Phelps
Before Ryan Lochte became everyone's favorite swimmer, Phelps was the biggest thing to come out of the 2008 Olympics. After winning eight gold medals in Beijing, Phelps landed tons of endorsement deals, but lost Kellogg Co. in February of 2009 after a photo of him smoking marijuana was published by the British tabloid News of the World. Don't go looking for the swimmer on boxes of Frosted Flakes anytime soon.
Lindsay Lohan
It's not very surprising that Lohan lost out on some endorsements — if anything it's hard to predict just which of her scandals caused it. This past April, Lohan was dropped from her contract with clothing company Odaingerous before her campaign had even started. The company changed their minds when the former child star was sentenced to 90 days in rehab for lying to police about a car accident. It also says a lot that the only endorsement Lohan could get in the first place was from a company we've never heard of.
Chris Brown
When Brown was first accussed of assaulting Rihanna, chewing gum company Wrigley pulled all of their many ads featuring the singer and his music. Once Brown plead guilty to the charges, they officially terminated his contract. Apparently, no other companies have wanted to get mixed up in Brown's increasingly worsening reputation, since Brown singed a deal with modeling agency Wilhelmina in November in the hope of gaining some endorsements. I wouldn't get my hopes up, Chris.
