Could anyone have seen this coming? Talk about a shocking Brand Blunder. I mean, the marketing practically wrote itself when Chris Brown’s song “Forever” was used in a new campaign for Wrigley’s Doublemint gum before becoming its own hit single. It seemed like a great brand decision for Doublemint, probably attempting to reach a younger audience. The original Doublemint song is classic, but it’s the same gum my Grandma would offer us and it was time to take the brand in a new direction.
Despite probably being good for the Doublemint brand and even Chris Brown’s own brand identity, very few could have predicted this:
The R&B star [Brown] was being charged with two felonies – assault and making criminal threats – in the alleged beating of his girlfriend Rihanna last month. Even though the couple seem to have reconciled, the case is proceeding. Click for the full article via People.
That is not good, for anyone’s brand. And thus, the commercial and the campaign were most likely pulled from the air. Most people have probably never seen the ad and I’ll admit I heard the song on the radio long before seeing the commercial on TV. Let’s hope both brand identity’s find a way to recover. Though Doublemint will likely be least affected by this incident because they can just bring back the twins. Twins, Basil. TWINS!
Bonus: Slightly NSFW Doublmint Twins Litho.
