A lot of time companies decide to promote their product via an influencer. They usually select an influencer whose niche is very similar to their own and have a good amount of clout. There are many companies like Honey that became a great success within a very few time due to their influencer Mr Beast. However, sometimes this is can also backfire in certain situations.
In this article, we will be looking at some of these influencer marketing failure stories. These stories will let you know about the things you need to take care of before proceeding with influencer marketing. So lets look at how influencer marketing turns against the brand.
Brad Pitt and Pringles
Kendall Jenner and Pepsi
DJ Khaled, Floyd Mayweather and Centra Tech
Kendall, Kylie Jenner and the Vintage Band Tees
Kim Kardashian and Diclegis
Ajay Devgan and Vimal
Shahrukh Khan and Fair and Handsome
Ronaldo and Facial Fitness Pao
FAQ
Brad Pitt and Pringles
Pringles appointed Brad Pitt as their brand ambassador to market their product. But being an ambassador for Pringles did not go well. The marketing campaign did not go very well and definitely failed to make an impression. This is why it is very necessary to choose a suitable influencer for your brand.
Kendall Jenner and Pepsi
In 2017 released an ad starring Kendall Jenner. In this ad, they show a mass protest. After looking at the protest Kendall who was doing her photoshoot leaves it and joins the masses. As she joined the masses, she took a can of Pepsi and gave it to a police officer. After she handed it over, the police officer, the crowd rejoiced.
The ad clearly missed the mark. Many claimed that this ad diminished the seriousness of Black Lives Matter. Apart from that as Kendall is a white supermodel, it was taken very wrongly by the masses. After this, the daughter of Martin Luther King tweeted that “If only Daddy would have known about the power of #Pepsi.”
DJ Khaled, Floyd Mayweather and Centra Tech
DJ Khaled and Floyd Mayweather are celebrities that have a huge influence on normal peoples life. But sometimes celebrities do not check the authenticity of the company. A similar thing happened when these two celebrities started promoting Centra Tech. Centra Tech is a company that sells crypto-based financial products.
A lot of investors started investing in the company after the endorsement. But Centra Tech turned out to be a fraud company. Soon the founder of Centra Tech was charged with fraud in April 2018. DJ Khaled and Floyd Mayweather were also held responsible. This is a prime example of negative celebrity influence.
Parnas Ghosh
Kendall, Kylie Jenner and the Vintage Band Tees
Another notable example of negative influence is the case of Jenner Sisters and the band tees line. So Kylie Jenner and Kendell Jenner had released several vintage t-shirts where they printed their faces superimposed over images of musical acts.
After they released these T-shirts, they started facing backlash from the public. Even relatives of these popular musicians retorted sharply to the Jenner Sisters. The mother of Mr Wallace replied that “I have no idea why they feel they can exploit the deaths of 2Pac and my Son Christopher to sell a t-shirt.”
Kim Kardashian and Diclegis
Kim Kardashian had promoted a morning sickness drug called Diclegis. The problem was that the drug had a number of side effects. It went unnoticed for sometimes but the FDA got to know about it soon. They ordered Kim Kardashian to repost it with the side effects. The authorities said that every influencer should follow the communication regulations of the products. They should be transparent.
Ajay Devgan and Vimal
Ajay Devgan had been promoting Vimal pan masala for a pretty long time. This lead to many people buying the Vimal pan masala. One of the fans of Ajay Devgan named Nanakram has been using the product. He took to social media to appeal to Ajay Devgan to stop promoting the brand. He said that he had been suffering from cancer after he started consuming the product. This post created a lot of hatred and there was a backlash against the actor. After this, the sale of Vimal dropped steeply.
Shahrukh Khan and Fair and Handsome
Shahrukh Khan had endorsed the Fair and Handsome product for a long time. A lot of customers didn’t take this advertisement in a good way. A lot of people blamed the actor for inducing insecurities in the mind of people because of their skin colour. There was also a petition filed on change.org against the popular Bollywood actor.
Ronaldo and Facial Fitness Pao
Ronaldo is one of the best footballers. He has been routinely seen promoting health products. In 2014 he promoted a Japanese brand Facial Fitness Pao, But the facial fitness product was pretty weird. It was not quite received well by the fans and failed to make an impression.
Tanusha Verma
So before you work with an influencer, here are a few things to keep in mind
Choose the right influencer for your brand:
Choose the influencer who fits your brand. The influencer whose niche or personality matches your product should be chosen.
Mention the side effects of the product when promoting it:
When an influencer is promoting a product, he/she should also mention the side effects of the particular product.
Check if the product does not hurt any sentiments:
Before releasing any product, you should make sure that it does not hurt any sentiments.
Conclusion
These are some of the cases of negative influencing. So as you can see you need to very careful when you are proceeding with influencer marketing. In this, both the influencer and the product company should be careful about each other. I have listed down some of the things you should remember when you are going for influencer marketing. So I hope you now have the information you were looking for. I would now end this article here.
FAQ
What are the cons of Influencer Marketing?
Working with the Wrong Influencers Harm your brand, It is Difficult to Measure Results and there are High Risk Involved.
What are the examples of influencer marketing fails?
Brad Pitt and Pringles, Kendall Jenner and Pepsi, and Ronaldo and Facial Fitness Pao are some of the examples of influencer marketing fails.
Is influencer marketing effective in 2021?
Yes, Influencer marketing is still effective in 2021.
