12 ore 17 lugl 2021 anni - THE FASHION LAW From Celebrity Spokesmen to Big-Name Designers, Brands Grapple With How to Deal With "Morals" Issues

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FROM THE FASHION LAW:

From Celebrity Spokesmen to Big-Name Designers, Brands Grapple With How to Deal With "Morals" Issues

Dior found itself in a significantly problematic position in the summer of 2016. Johnny Depp was the face of Sauvage, its newest men’s fragrance at the time. The world-famous actor was starring on television screens in a commercial for the cologne, gracing billboards across the globe, and appearing in glossy magazine ads and on consumers’ Instagram timelines, alike, as part of Dior’s large-scale push to market its fragrance. All the while, Depp was making headlines for different reasons, as well, after his then-wife, Amber Heard, came forward with domestic abuse allegations against him, thereby, putting him at the center of a headline-making matter that stood to directly impact the carefully-crafted and maintained image of the fashion brand whose fragrance he was endorsing.

The scenario positioned LVMH-owned Dior – one of the most valuable and esteemed fashion houses in the world – in an inherently unflattering light, as consumers called foul and threatened to boycott the brand as a result of its choice of spokesman. The situation was striking in part because the issues at play stand to impact almost any brand with endorsers. In fact, just this week, brands have rushed to cut ties with Chinese-Canadian singer Kris Wu, who has appeared in ads for the likes of Louis Vuitton and Dior, after he was accused of sexual assault.

The issue of endorser misconduct goes far beyond any single fashion brand, and beyond the fashion industry, itself. As Jackson Walker attorneys Emilio Nicolas and Valery Piedra put it recently, “There is a seemingly trending tale in Hollywood: A film production has cast the lead role. The press release has been made. The news is trending on social media. Investments are starting to pour in. But then controversy strikes as news comes out that the lead has committed socially objectionable behavior. Things start spiraling quickly. Hashtags to boycott the film start to trend. Distributors will not agree to carry the film. Investors begin pulling funds. Now, if you are the producer, you might ask yourself, ‘How can I disassociate the film from its now controversial lead?’”

Given the rise of the #MeToo and Times Up movements, paired with the potential impact of cancel culture, brands big and small are being forced to grapple with backlash from consumers in instances in which they are tied to controversial figures.

Against this background, it is unsurprising that many companies have gone back to the drawing board – at least from a legal perspective – when it comes to enlisting Hollywood stars, professional athletes, big-name fashion designers, and heavily-followed influencers. After all, companies take on quite a significant amount of risk when contracting with famous figures to endorse or in some cases, create their products. In these situations, famous individuals and their behavior, whether that behavior comes in a professional capacity or in their paparazzi-plagued or social media-documented personal lives, often serves as a reflection of the brands these individuals are formally tied to, thereby, pulling companies into situations even when they are otherwise uninvolved.

In certain instances of endorser misconduct, it may be as simple as pulling online advertisements or no longer allocating future ad spend to the individual at issue. But often, it is more complicated than that, especially when a brand is already involved with an influencer or other famous figure. In order to protect themselves and their carefully crafted identities, brands are doubling-down on the terms that appear in their contracts with ambassadors, endorsers, designers and/or other figures, and using morals clauses with more frequency than maybe ever before.

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