At this point, everyone knows Kanye West and probably knows what he is most famous for. No, it’s not his fashion line or his rap music—it is his bizarre social media debacles that started as harmless jokes to now straight-up threats to anyone the West disapproves of. While Kanye West, who now goes by ‘Ye,’ was always on the controversial side of celebrities, things took a massive turn after his ex-wife Kim Kardashian filed for divorce after West had publicly defamed her on numerous occasions.
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Kanye then started using his social media platforms as a way to comment on Kim and her relationship with Pete Davidson. Initially, fans thought of it as banter, but it was not long after that Ye’s comments soon turned into threats, and now he has been accused of being racist and antisemitism behavior. This has now led to many major fashion brands dropping him, but could there be a lesson for corporate leaders in this whole scenario?
It’s tragic how one of the world’s favorite rappers turned into this.
Endorsements And Partnerships
Today’s world is entirely based on marketing, if you have a strong marketing front, then your brand has better prospects, but if your marketing front isn’t as good, then your brand might face the brunt of it. Because of this, brands come together with high-profile celebrities and influencers to come together to collaborate and help the brand grow. The brand receives a boost of clients and followers while the celebrity receives hefty payment and free products.
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Here are the lessons that can be learned
1. Financial Significance
These endorsements and partnerships come with a great financial sum. The Kanye West and Adidas deal was worth a huge sum of money, but now that they’ve cut off the entire thing, it has opened the door to many financial issues. This means that moving forward, companies will have to rely on contracts that would entail details surrounding finances when it comes to situations like this.
2. Monitoring The Behavior
This case highlights the importance of the fact that celebrities should not be allowed to say whatever they please, no matter what! Corporations will now have to look into the kind of celebrities that they collaborate with and ensure they stay in their lane. This would consist of creating a committee that would monitor and report their partner’s behavior.
It is not an easy task to make someone the face of your brand.
3. Prompt Response
Now, situations like these can come no matter how well you prepare for them. Since celebrities are human beings, they are bound to have slip-ups and make mistakes that may result in public backlash. As a brand/corporate, your role would be to examine and respond to the situation so that the backlash doesn’t target your brand. In the Ye-Adidas’ situation, many people took to social media to call the brand out for its now-canceled deal with Kanye.
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Because of this, Kanye West has officially been demoted from the list of the richest celebrities.