Using a celebrity's name in vain

It’s always a clever trick when you can tie an issue you care about in to one of the biggest news stories of the week.  So what better than to link your issue to the X Factor Final?  After all you know the tabloids will be dedicating acres of news print to the topic.

I’m assuming that was the laudable aim of War on Want when they issued a press release titled ‘Dannii in M&S 'sweatshops' storm’.  They were talking about the claim that research showed that workers in two Indian factories which produce clothes for M&S were paying below a living wage. So the tenuous link was Dannii Minogue’s an X Factor judge; Dannii Minogue’s in the M&S ads; therefore ‘X Factor Judge is involved’.

They should be complimented for their creativity and also for the fact that they explained what a living wage was in India.  I get fed up with charities saying ‘look how little this person earns’ without explaining what a living wage is in that country.  For instance, to quote their figures, £126 a month is living wage in that area of India – which we would find miniscule but it’s always important to have the proper context otherwise figures are meaningless.

However back to the celebrity element.  Let’s ignore the tenuous link.  Let’s also assume all the information in the press release is accurate since I have no way of knowing.  Do they want Dannii to support them?  If so this is not how I’d have gone about it.  One she’s under contract to M&S therefore she cannot publicly speak about them, nor can she respond. Two Dannii is not in an M&S sweatshop storm.  This is guilt by association for the sake of a very slim topical peg.  Apart from appearing in the advert how is she involved?  Call me old fashioned but I somehow doubt she’d be making a decision about where M&S get’s its clothes made.

So what have they achieved?  Well they’ve linked her to something of which she probably had no knowledge or responsibility - so that’s a potential relationship they’ve lost.  They've used her name, without her apparent agreement, to try and gain coverage.  However it’s worst than that.  Whilst stars may come and go agents and publicists are around forever and have very long memories.  If you were Hackford Jones PR, (Dannii’s UK PR agency), how would you feel about a future approach from this charity?  Their other clients include Davina McCall, Ant & Dec, Denise Van Outen, Mylene Klass, Tess Daly and Vernon Kay to name but a few.

A quick Google search show’s very little take up by the media (two websites and a minor wire service).  Wouldn’t writing to Dannii in private have been a more effective way of letting her know about the issue?  Working with celebrities is all about building relationships over time.  Relationships that have to involve trust.  None of that appears here.  What’s more if I was an existing celebrity supporter would I become nervous about how the charity might treat me?

Whilst I don’t blame the charity for trying to gain support for an important issue I question whether the positives here (and there don’t seem to be many) outweigh the negatives from a celebrity relationship perspective.