Watch Out, Charlize Theron

Theron Has Been Sued by a Watchmaker for Not Upholding a Paid Endorsement Deal -- Closer Monitoring of Stars to Follow?

Imagine earning millions of dollars just to strap on a diamond watch. Such is the life of Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron. That is all the South African siren was required to do to rake in some serious extra dough, but apparently she just couldn't stick to this arduous task.

Raymond Weil, a maker of luxury Swiss watches, hit Theron with a lawsuit last Monday, alleging she violated a lucrative endorsement deal by wearing other designers' timepieces. The suit accuses the actress of two-timing the company by wearing a Christian Dior watch in public -- a serious faux pas in light of her $20 million deal.

Weil's attorney, David Jaroslawicz, refused to comment, but key players in the celebrity endorsement industry say the company has a point.

"When companies like Weil put eight figures behind a campaign, exclusivity is very important to the brand," explains Ryan Schinman, president of Platinum Rye Entertainment, which negotiates talent buys on behalf of advertisers and corporations. "The minute she's seen wearing a competitor's jewelry it diminishes the entire believability of the campaign."

However, Schinman explains that it's not entirely Theron's fault. "As far as what Charlize did I'm sure it was unintentional but it is her team's responsibility to make sure that doesn't happen." And, he says, the incident will likely have repercussions in the industry. "Agents and clients are likely to be a lot more careful about policing their clients in the future," he predicts.

The 31-year-old Academy Award Winning star of "Monster" and "North Country" signed on as the face of a multimillion-dollar ad campaign in October 2005, apparently agreeing to wear only Raymond Weil watches in public. Theron promoted the limited edition line of diamond-covered Shine watches, which sell for $7,000.

But Theron angered sponsors when she turned up in a Tourneau catalogue wearing a faux diamond watch over the words, "Charlize Theron wears Dior."

Theron had an endorsement deal to promote a Dior perfume (Print Ad Below).




Theron was also photographed wearing a watch from the Christian Dior line at a March news conference at a film festival in Austin, Texas. Representatives for Theron wouldn't comment.

It's never been a bigger time for celebrity endorsements. Catherine Zeta-Jones for T-Mobile cell phones. Gwyneth Paltrow for Estée Lauder fragrances. Nicole Kidman for Chanel perfumes. Gwyneth Paltrow for Damiani jewels. Courteney Cox for Kinerase skin care, Cindy Crawford for Omega watches.

The Hollywood A-list are hawking products like never before, both in America and abroad.

Wouldn't you?

Ad campaigns pay them as much as $3 million for as little as a day's work.

"Celebrity endorsements are more powerful then ever," explains Noah Tepperberg, co-founder of celebrity marketing company Strategic Group. "One photo of a product on the right star at the right time can generate millions of impressions which are often much farther reaching and cost efficient than traditional advertising methods. "

But does seeing Charlize Theron wearing a diamond watch actually influence someone to go out and buy one?

Brand consultant Sabine Heller thinks so.

"In our media-saturated world, the power of celebrity worship, which absurdly and tragically resembles idolatry, seems to be magnifying at an exponential rate ... [It] means quite literally that Jane Doe sees a celebrity in an advertisement and, as a result, goes out to buy the product being endorsed," Heller says.

And this will likely continue to grow even more rapidly. "If the advertisers and corporations weren't getting results they would stop using [celebrities]," explains Shinman. "When the Robert De Niros and Sharon Stones of the world continue to do ads, this breaks down the walls for it to become acceptable for other celebrities."