Christina Aguilera Says She Wants to Sing the Blues
Which Is Just As Well After Opening Her Mouth Cost Her a Lucrative Product Licensing Agreement For Her Own Clothing Label

Philip Stone March 21, 2005

There are times when being the business manager for a pop music star just isn’t worth the effort. After months of license negotiations, Christina Aguilera clothes and accessories were set to hit stores in the summer. But then the diva mouthed off at the Academy Awards, “I just think it is so tacky (for celebrities to have their own clothing lines). I have always thought it one of those things that just make people look like they don’t know what to do any more.”

End result:  No Christina Aguilera clothes and accessories this summer. But one large lawsuit looming!

Apparently the licensing agreement negotiations with the British-based Basic Box were difficult, but at the end of last year Ms. Aguilera signed the deal for a line of clothing and accessories to be developed under he name. Designs had been developed and everything was on track when Christina decided at the Academy Awards to let loose at some of her compatriots (among others, Jennifer Lopez) who already have such lucrative agreements. Perhaps Christina had forgotten she had one, too?

Anyway, her quotes did not go down well with Basic Box. “We are extremely disappointed. We thought she was totally behind the project so her comments came as something of a shock,” a spokesman said. The company said it had heavily invested in the project, but after her comments it felt it had no choice but to close down the project. It has instructed lawyers to seek damages in the hundred of millions of dollars.

Mind you, it is possible Christina’s comments may have been a blessing for Basic Box. New research in the UK indicates that celebrity endorsements no longer bring in the business like they used to.

According to the research company Mintel, only 18% of British adults are  “celebrity responsive” while a majority said they were bored with celebrities and another 20% said they were actually “celebrity resistant”.

Celebrity endorsements were usually powerful advertising instruments since they implied a guarantee of quality. But the survey said only 2% thought that was true today. Just 8% of said they would buy a product because it was endorsed, two-thirds say their purchasing decisions are based on their own perception of quality, not who advertises it, and that endorsements are by no means any guarantee of quality. 

Claire Hatcher, senior market analyst at Mintel, warned that a major problem for manufacturers today is a celebrity’s sell-by date.  And she warned (and this was before Christina did her thing) “Worse still, is the prospect of the personality behaving in such a way that could seriously harm the brand image.”  No doubt Basic Box was paying attention to all of that.

None of this fazes Christina, however, who is busy making plans to marry her boyfriend. Maturing to marriage apparently means maturing in the music she sings, too. She says she is working on a retrospective album of blues, jazz and soul.

If her case ever gets to court, she’ll have the opportunity to sing the blues to judge and jury!