Some celebrities and brands are so popular that their actions have a direct impact on fans and followers. So even a slight opposition or negative comment or gesture can have widespread effects, both good and bad.
Here’s a few instances where companies lost billions because of someone else’s (celebrities) actions.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Coca-Cola snub during his Euro 2020 press conference cost the company $4 billion of its market value at the time.
The company’s shares at the time were at $56.17 and fell to $55.22 after the press conference was over.
2. Tesla chief Elon Musk’s tweets about cryptocurrencies have had a significant impact on the cryptocurrency market.
Just last month, Bitcoin’s valuation plunged below $45,000, its biggest slide since February, following a tweet by Musk hinting that Tesla may sell its cryptocurrency holdings.
In fact, one of his tweets, wiped off $14 billion off his own company.
3. Business journalist Sucheta Dalal’s tweet hinting at a ‘scandal’ involving possible rigging in favour of stock prices apparently led to a drop of 5-25% in Adani group of companies.
4. Kylie Jenner’s tweet hinting that she doesn’t use Snapchat anymore cost the company about $1.3 billion on stock market.
The tweet came in 2018 when Snapchat introduced a new layout that was criticised by people for being too confusing to navigate. Kylie Jenner had always been an influential Snapchat user with millions of followers.
5. Sales of Brylcreem dropped by 25% after David Beckham, who was hired for brand endorsements, shaved off his hair.
Back in 1997, David Beckham was paid $6 million to be the face of the brand Brylcreem for the next 4 years. Beckham shaved off his hair halfway through the contract. Despite this, the brand didn’t drop him saying that the contract doesn’t say how long his hair should be.
But apparently, the promotions didn’t work and the company lost huge sales.
6. Christian Dor, a French luxury fashion brand, lost its sales following a ban on Sharon Stone’s films in China.
In 2008, Christian Dior partnered with Sharon Stone for several advertisements. The same year, an earthquake in China left 68,000 people dead. Stone commented that China faced ‘Bad Karma’. This not only led to a ban on her films in China but also affected the sales of the brand.
So it’s basically like, karein koi, bharein koi.