Sign In
SHARE
How Miley Cyrus Got Wrapped Up in Condom Scam
Is Miley Cyrus hawking prophylactics? No, but a lot of people probably think she is, thanks to a transparently sleazy marketing stunt.
Last week, Lifestyles Condoms "announced," via its New York-based PR firm, 5W, that it was offering the 15-year-old Hannah Montana star $1 million to be its new spokesperson. The news quickly spread across the web, starting in the Daily News and getting picked up on E!, FoxNews.com, Defamer and dozens of other sites.
Of course, Cyrus, who got plenty of grief just for baring her back in a Vanity Fair photo shoot, is perhaps the last celebrity who would sign on for such a gig. But that doesn't matter, because, as far as can be ascertained, Lifestyles never actually offered her anything; it just announced its intention to do so, in the knowledge that merely mooting the possibility would generate headlines -- which, of course, it did.
This sort of cheap piggybacking on someone else's fame is pretty standard for 5W, which has earned a reputation as perhaps the public relations industry's least reputable outfit. (You can find a recap of some of its greatest hits here.)
But it's not without risk. The rapper 50 Cent recently sued Taco Bell for a very similar promotional effort, saying that the fast-food chain falsely implied his endorsement. And I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Cyrus and/or Disney is threatening similar action against Lifestyles and 5W. A rep for Cyrus hasn't responded to messages, and a 5W employee said only, "Unfortunately, we cannot comment further on this topic."
Earlier: No, Johnny Depp isn't hawking condoms, either.
Loading...
Thank you for registering as a Portfolio.com Insider. Your comment has been added.
Create Your Public Profile
- Conde Nast Closing 'Portfolio'
- Apr 27 2009 10:02AM EDT
- Newspaper Circ: 'WSJ' Gains as 'NY Post' Tumbles
- Apr 27 2009 9:32AM EDT
- Idle Chatter: The Prognosis for Newspapers, more
- Apr 27 2009 8:55AM EDT
- Late Breaks: MySpace, NYT, 'New York'
- Apr 24 2009 4:01PM EDT
- Nostalgia, Entitlement and Murdoch's 'Journal'
- Apr 24 2009 4:00PM EDT
- Huffpo's Lerer on the 'New and Better' Journalism
- Apr 24 2009 12:44PM EDT
- Ailes Heats Up Cold Spring with Newspaper War
- Apr 24 2009 12:33PM EDT
- Happy Friday. Now Watch This.
- Apr 24 2009 10:24AM EDT
- Idle Chatter: NPR Cutbacks, Jon Meacham, more
- Apr 24 2009 8:50AM EDT
- Late Breaks: Twitter and the 'Times,' more
- Apr 23 2009 5:59PM EDT
- CNN Partner's Polling Finds CNN Fair, Balanced
- Apr 23 2009 4:10PM EDT
- 'Scientific American' Editor Out in Reorg
- Apr 23 2009 3:19PM EDT
- Idle Chatter: MySpace, Nerve, 'Millionaire,' more
- Apr 23 2009 8:20AM EDT
- Late Breaks: 'Observer' Editor Resigns, more
- Apr 22 2009 4:15PM EDT
- One Marriage, One Memoir, Two Opinions
- Apr 22 2009 2:31PM EDT
Archive
Categories
Links
- Contact Me
- News After Newspapers
- Romenesko
- Gawker
- Ad Age
- WWD's Memo Pad
- Keith Kelly
- NYT Media
- Jon Fine
- TVNewser
- Magazine Death Pool
- HuffPo Media
- Galleycat
- News Hounds
- Newsbusters
- Jezebel
- Editor & Publisher
- Hollywood Wiretap
- The Media Pundit
- FAIR
- I Want Media
- Viral Video
- Nikki Finke
- MediaFile
- The Business Insider
- Paid Content
- Valleywag
- Cover Awards
- Talking Biz News
- SI.com - Richard Deitsch
- Gapper Blog - Media
- Jon Friedman
- Nieman Journalism Lab
- NY Observer media page
- Media Shift
- Tyndall Report
- Media Nation
