WHAT WENT WRONG

FOR MOST of the brands having a popular face/celebrity endorsing their brand has proven to be a very effective marketing strategy. And for the celebrities such endorsements are not just about the multi million worth cash addition to their bank account but also about increasing their star value.
This celebrity-brand marriage however has sometimes backfired often leading to massive loss to the company and major let down - at times huge embarrassment - for the stars.
Here are some such endorsement deals gone wrong.

OPRAH AND JAMES FREY
Oprah recommended frey's book A million little pieces and made is a book club selection, which propelled the book to best-seller status. It was later revealed that Frey had fabricated key parts of the memoir.

DAN O'BRIEN AND DAVE JOHNSON

During the 1992 summer Olympics, Reebok spent $25 million on an ad campaign featuring the two track and field stars. Dan vs Dave commercials ran almost nonstop, asking which would be the world's best athlete and saying that the debate would be settled in Barcelona. The fact that Dan did not win a single medal in '92 when he failed to score in the pole vault and Dave only captured bronze on a broken foot made the spots downright laughable.

MICHAEL JACKSON

when the pop star was filming a commercial for Pepsi, in the '80s, he stepped too close to some pyrotechnics and suffered from burns, which required immediate hospitalization. This began Jackson's frequent plastic surgery operations.

OJ SIMPSON
Hertz and OJ Simpson were synonymous for 20 years. However, Simpson's 1994 arrest for the murders of his ex-wife and her friend and subsequent trial made the ads irrelevant and dangerous for the No 1 car-rental company.

KOBE BRYANT

In 2001, when he was charged with sexual assault of a hotel employee in Colorado, Bryant, who previously had good reputation as an athlete and person, lost his endorsement deals with McDonald's, Sprite and Nutella.

BRUCE WILLIS
Seagrams hired bad boy Willis to market its wine coolers in 1987. After 18 months of commercials seagrams' wine coolers went from No 5 to No 1 in that market, with Willis himself taking credit for it. However, alcohol problems led him to give up alcohol. Seagrams dismissed him from the camaign and Willis piblicly said that the company wanted him to endorse hard liquor and he refused.

MADONNA
In 1989, after signing a $5 milion deal with Pepsi, her lead single, the title track for the album Like a Prayer, was debuted as a Pepsi commercial. The squeaky-clean soda commercial debuted during an episode of The Cosby Show. But the following week, Madonna's own video version of the song debuted on MTV. This version was not at all 'family friendly' and had Madonna french-kissing a black saint in church, witnessing a graphic murder and then dancing in front of a field of burning crosses. Amid threats of boycotts, Pepsi yanked the commercial. But Madonna got to keep her $5 million endorsement.

KATE MOSS

In 2005, supermodel Kate Moss was photographed snorting cocaine. The photos appeared in a British tabloid. Chanel and Burberry backed out of their contracts with Moss soon after seeing the photos. One clothier, H&M, said they would honor their contract after Moss admitted to having a drug problem, but rescinded on their promised actions and dropped her well

MAGIC JOHNSON
In November 1991, LA Lakers star Johnson stunned the sports world by announcing that he had been infected with HIV while cheating on his wife. Industry experts said within six months, all of johnson's sponsorship deals, including those with Pepsi and converse had vanished.

THE OLSEN TWINS

In 2004, the milk processors and dairy farmers responsible for the 'Got Milk?' advertising campaign were forced to terminate ads featuring the two actors after Mary-Kate checked into a treatment facility for a 'health-related issue' that some publications reported as an eating disorder.

MARTINA HINGIS

In 1996, Hingis, then the top-ranked female tennis player, was an endorser for Italian sneaker and tennis gear company Sergio Tacchini, with a five year, $5.6 million sponsorship deal. Under the terms of the agreement, Hingis was required to wear Tacchini sneakers and clothing at tournaments. But a few years later, Hingis sued Tacchini, claiming its shoes were defective, unsuitable for tournament play and the source of her devastating injuries at the 1998 US open, leading Tacchini to drop Hingis.

ALAN ALDA
in 1988, Alan Alda was hired by IBM to serve as spokesman for its computers, including its laptop,expected to be released in 1989. However, in the fall of 1988, he was caught purchasing a rival Toshiba laptop. Shortly thereafter, IBM's MASH campaign ended, a new ad agency was hired and Alda was gone.