“It’s been dialled down the past few years because of all these celebrity issues,” said Yichi Zhang, founder of Shanghai-based ASP Consulting, pointing to the rise of a category of new celebrities that some brands see as a relatively safer bet than film, music and TV stars thanks to their inherent discipline and seemingly healthy lifestyles. Other global brands have had to navigate high-profile scandals with local celebrity partners too. Late last year, he was convicted and sentenced to 13 years in prison. Louis Vuitton also was forced to move quickly in 2021 to drop Kris Wu, the biggest male idol in China at the time and its brand ambassador, when he was accused of raping multiple women. Last year the brand had to cut ties with Li Yifeng when the actor was detained on charges of soliciting prostitutes. Following this, Prada has not officially named another celebrity face, save for the deal with Cai Xukun which had already been negotiated when Zheng’s scandal broke but not yet announced. The actress lasted less than a week with the brand after a scandal surrounding her secret surrogacy broke out. In 2021, Prada announced what would turn out to be its most short-lived brand ambassador, Zheng Shuang. But because Fan’s image is still not completely rehabilitated after her 2018 tax scandal where she was fined a staggering $138 million by the government, she was mostly a fixture for smaller labels like Schiaparelli and Yohji Yamamoto, instead of acting as a clotheshorse for the megabrands.Ī few particularly salacious controversies have made celebrity marketing in China even more of a minefield than it already was. On the back of ambiguous government guidelines for celebrity-related content, there are signs that some brands are increasingly cautious when casting for partnerships and appearances.Īctress Fan Bingbing was seated prominently at this season’s shows, for example beside Anna Wintour and François-Henri Pinault at Giambattista Valli. In fact, things may never return to the pre-pandemic golden era when famous faces were a relatively easy - albeit expensive - route to mass exposure.Ī growing number of local stars have been ensnared in scandals or accused of having “incorrect” politics and morals by the Chinese authorities. Meanwhile, Dior drew singer Liu Yuxin and actress Zhang Ziyi, Miu Miu gained clout with new it-girl and rapper Lexie Liu and, at Loewe, film star Sun Qian’s all-red flower dress got nods of approval.īut it isn’t quite business as usual for China’s celebrity marketing machine. Xiao, an official face for Tod’s, and Cai, who serves as ambassador for Prada, generated the equivalent of $19.8 million and $12.7 million respectively in media exposure, according to influencer marketing agency Launchmetrics. For the first season since the loosening of Covid-19 travel restrictions, Chinese VIPs like actor-singer Xiao Zhan and musician Cai Xukun made for social media gold at luxury brand events. After a more than two-year hiatus, Chinese celebrities and influencers made their return to the major global fashion weeks.
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