Are These “Sightings” Being Paid For?

“Jennifer Love Hewitt in a _____ out shopping at Madison in Los Angeles, CA yesterday (August 15)”

Our site has been getting a lot of emails from designers and their pr firms with pictures of celebrities wearing their clothing or accessories on the street. I just received a press release & picture of Jennifer Love Hewitt from an  inhouse publicist  wearing one of their designer dresses. I wonder if these celebs are being paid to wear the outfit on the street so they can be “seen” wearing it and then photographed? Just what is the relationship between the celeb’s publicist and the designer’s – does one feed off the other?

And if so, I wonder how it all works? Is it part of a marketing agreement with the client and the celeb negotiated by the publicists? Perhaps a fee is paid for the celeb to wear the client’s outfit for so many “sightings” on the street or at events?

We sent a note back to the designer’s publicist about the picture and her knowing about Jennifer Love Hewitt wearing their dress. She responded:

“What are you talking about? We didn’t know(!) This was yesterday and it was found online on an image site. She has purchased and worn our line several (times) before. We do not pay anyone to wear our clothes.”   

So I guess it was a happy accident. As we all know, many of the big stars have name stylists who dress them for events but do not dress them for less public occasions. Renee Zelwegger comes to mind, who wore only Carolina Herrera for big public events such as the Oscars, etc, for a period of time. Most likely RZ was paid a fee.

Then there are the deals which have long existed when a celeb appears in an ad campaign and wears the brands clothing and/or fragrance, such as Nicole Kidman’s Channel deal or more recently Gwyneth Paltrow’s or Kira Knightly’s alliances.

Many smaller apparel companies pitch celebrities to wear their clothing, either directly or via a pr/marketing agency. Occasions do arise when a celeb actually purchases an item of clothing and is photographed in it by the paparazzi and the apparel company and/or the pr agency has no knowledge of it. If the apparel company has the ability to see the image, they may try to contact the celeb and establish a relationship.

So it seems to work in lots of different ways.

-Ernest Schmatolla

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