Celebrity Hair Endorsement Deals Gone Wrong

Introduction - Celebrity Hair Endorsement Deals Gone Wrong

Katy Perry's hawking of Good Hair Days (GHD) hot tools is just one of the most recent celebrity hair endorsement deals gone wrong.

Katy, a celebrity face of GHD hair products, recently had a lawsuit filed against her by the company she represented.

The beautiful brunette pop star originally received $4.5 million for a two-year contract to endorse the British hair-care products from Jemella Group Ltd.

At a price tag of more than $2 million a year, Katy had to sell a lot of hair tools to make it a worthwhile investment for GHD.

Katy Perry VS GHD - Celebrity Hair Endorsement

Katy claimed there was an oral agreement to extend her endorsement another two years.  She also claimed GHD had backed out in bad faith.

Reportedly, Katy wanted to file a mega bucks lawsuit estimated to be in the range of 6.5 million against GHD because she believed that their verbal agreement needed to be honored.

Apparently this was news to GHD which claimed they had no plans to continue doing business with her as a celebrity spokesperson.  Jemella claimed that Perry’s decreased popularity in Europe led to underwhelming sales, and they don’t want to keep her endorsement.

Perry’s camp told TMZ on April 15, “They’re backing out of the deal because of an ownership change, and just throwing shade to hide their bad faith.”

When it was revealed Katy was not going to receive an extended contract, she decided to sue because reportedly there were issues with the company continuing to use her image in advertisements.

Insiders claim when GHD heard of Katy's plans to sue them, they reportedly filed a pre-emptive lawsuit.

The latest news has indicated Katy and GHD have worked out their differences and will be going about their business without each other and without the option to file additional lawsuits.

Paris Hilton - Hairtech Hair Extensions

The famous mostly blonde socialite was reported to have received a $3.5 million contract to wear Hairtech's extensions.  Paris also had reportedly agreed to other activities under the terms of the extension contract.

Apparently she had agreed to attend Hairtech's 2007 hair extension launch party for the line.

Adding insult to injury, Paris was reportedly sued for breach of contract for having a skirmish with the law, skipping out of the 2007 launch party and wearing extensions from another company.

Hairtech claimed the behavior of the socialite along with her tarnished reputation and wearing of other extensions cost them $6.6. million dollars in profit.

Settlement Reached Between Paris Hilton & Hairtech Hair Extensions

Ultimately the judge dropped the case because information was presented to the courtroom which support Hilton.

A settlement was ultimately reached between Paris and Hairtech who apparently tried to sue the famous blonde reality TV star for 10x ($35) more than the $3.5 contract agreement.

Note:  For more details see the official Transcript of Paris Hilton v Hairtech International Inc. (2010).

Celebrity Endorsements Are The Norm In The Music Industry

In the music industry they believe “any revenue is good revenue”.  They've adopted this mantra and the biggest stars such as Beyonce and Taylor Swift have recently received massive deals with Pepsi and Coke

In the world of music, across-the-board destigmatization of commercial sponsorship is not only the norm, it’s become its own industry on steroids.

Is The Hair World The Best Place For Celebrity Endorsements? 

Does this celebrity endorsement paradigm easily translate to the world of hair?  It doesn't appear so if the results of Katy Perry's GHD deal are examined.  GHD claimed hair tool sales were sluggish under Perry's reign.

Yes, we've had Jessica Simpson showcasing clip-in extensions as well as wigs on the Red Carpet, Jennifer Lopez hawking shampoo during her days as an American Idol judge and Jennifer Aniston's hair product partnership.

Summary - Celebrity Hair Endorsement Deals Gone Awry

A bigger question tied to celebrity hair endorsement deal gone awry is whether  hair consumers buy hot tools, shampoo, clip-in extensions, wigs or  root volumizers because Katy, Paris, Jessica, JLo and Jennifer endorse them?

Maybe before 2008.  But now?  Probably not so much.

In today's hair world many consumers care most bout getting the highest quality tools for the least amount of money.  Buying a hot tool endorsed by Katy Perry is a red flag for many hair consumers.

Why?  It means the hair company had to mark up their products to cover the cost of the celebrity endorsements.  Do hair consumers want to pay for those endorsements?  Would you?

In 2013 hair consumers care the most for the highest quality hair products at the best price.  The biggest bang for the high buck counts more in 2013 than having a celebrity face on the packaging.

Note:  This blog is dedicated to Michael Keilhofer who designed this blog and always goes above and beyond to support HairBoutique.com in every way possible.