Just ask Gilbert Gottfried. The comedian’s distinctive grating voice has earned him some pretty sweet gigs as a voice actor. He was Iago the parrot in The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS)‘s Aladdin. He was also the voice of the AFLAC Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) duck, at least until he posted some insensitive tweets in the aftermath of the Japanese tsunami of 2011.
Ouch. Edgy comedians are known to cross the line, but the problem with Gottfried’s barrage of ill-advised tweets that belittled the Japanese casualties is that AFLAC Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)’s biggest insurance market just happens to be Japan.
Lance Armstrong
There’s nothing as vile in the sports world as cheating, and that’s exactly what happened to cycling legend Lance Armstrong when he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.
Lance Armstrong admitted to using performance-enhancing, career-destroying drugs.
He lost fans. He had to relinquish Tour de France titles. However, the collective sound of disillusioned flinging off their Livestrong bracelets wasn’t lost on the many companies that relied on Armstrong to pitch their products.
NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) — despite standing by Woods after his extramarital dalliances — dumped Armstrong.
Why did NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) stand by Woods and so many other athletes that have proven socially mortal but distance itself from the disgraced cyclist? Cheating. Cheating on your spouse is bad for your marriage, but cheating in your sport is bad for sports.
Britney Spears
When you’re being paid to promote a product it helps if you’re not consuming a rival’s offering.
Pop goes the contract: Beyonce took over for Britney in PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP) ads. Photos showed the former Mouseketeer imbibing The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) and not PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP), who paid her to be in its ads.
Britney Spears starred in PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP) ads until she was replaced by Beyonce in 2002. Pepsi executives weren’t happy to see photos of her with The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) products as they were paying her good money for PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP) ads.
She’s not the only one. Actress Charlize Theron was not only dismissed but also sued by designer watchmaker Raymond Weil after she was seen in public wearing a Christian Dior timepiece.
PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP) will argue that it didn’t fire Spears over the photograph. Her contract was up. Her record sales and popularity were slumping in 2002, making the switch to the then rising Beyonce an easy call. However, it certainly didn’t help that Spears was being snapped by paparazzi holding a Coke can.
The article Paula Deen-Like Disasters: 5 of the Biggest Celebrity Endorsement Flame-Outs originally appeared on Fool.com is written by Rick Munarriz.
Rick Munarriz owns shares of Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS). The Motley Fool recommends Accenture, Aflac, Coca-Cola, Nike, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of Nike, PepsiCo, and Walt Disney.
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