Here's a look at some of the collaborations that actually worked, some that didn't, and what made the difference in each case.
The Collabs That Delivered
Rihanna and Fenty Beauty
It's hard to talk about celebrity brands without starting here. When Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty in 2017 with 40 foundation shades, she wasn't just releasing a makeup line – she was making a pointed statement about an industry that had routinely excluded darker skin tones. The authenticity of that mission was immediately visible and immediately credible, because anyone paying attention knew Rihanna had been vocal about representation issues long before she had a product to sell.
The business results matched the cultural moment. Fenty Beauty made $100 million in its first 40 days, according to reporting from Forbes, and the brand is now valued at over $2.8 billion. What made it work wasn't just Rihanna's celebrity – it was that the product solved a real, documented problem for a large underserved market, and the founder was genuinely invested in that problem. The collaboration between Rihanna and LVMH (which backed the brand through Kendo) was a case where both parties understood what made the venture different, and they built around it.
Ryan Reynolds and Aviation Gin
Ryan Reynolds bought a stake in Aviation American Gin in 2018 and turned what could have been a standard brand deal into one of the most entertaining celebrity marketing stories in recent memory. The key was his willingness to be genuinely funny about it – not in a polished, brand-approved way, but in the kind of self-deprecating, fast, slightly absurd way that his social media audience already knew him for.
The Aviation Gin ads became talked-about content rather than content people clicked away from. The "Vasectomy" ad, the "Wedding" ad, the response to Peloton's controversial commercial – Reynolds and his team treated the gin brand like a creative project rather than a revenue vehicle, and it showed. When Diageo acquired Aviation Gin in 2020 for a reported $610 million (with Reynolds retaining a stake), the brand's cultural cachet was clearly part of what they were buying. The lesson here is about fit: Reynolds had spent years building an audience that trusted his voice. The gin brand got access to that trust because it let him use it authentically.
Beyoncé and Ivy Park (Adidas)
When Adidas announced its partnership with Beyoncé to relaunch Ivy Park in 2019, expectations were high – possibly too high. But the first few drops largely delivered. The collection sold out quickly, the aesthetic was visually cohesive and clearly reflected Beyoncé's creative direction, and the brand felt like an extension of her artistic identity rather than a logo placement. The collaboration gave Adidas significant cultural credibility at a moment when the athleisure market was intensely competitive.
It's worth noting that the partnership eventually wound down in 2023, with reports of slower-than-expected sales in later drops and strategic disagreements. But the initial years of the collaboration represented a genuine success by most metrics – sellout releases, significant cultural conversation, and a product range that fans were actually excited about.
The Ones That Didn't Land
Scott Disick and Basically Everything
Scott Disick has been involved in a remarkable number of brand partnerships over the years, and the pattern that emerged from many of them became almost a template for what not to do. The most memorable moment came in 2016 when he posted an Instagram ad for Bootea (a detox tea brand) and accidentally included the entire instructions from the brand's PR team in the caption – text that read "Here you go, at 2pm est, write the below: Caption: Keeping up with the summer workout routine with my morning @booteauk protein shake!" The post went viral immediately, and not for the right reasons.
The incident crystallized a broader perception that Disick's brand endorsements were transactional in a way that was visible to his audience. The tea itself was a product that had attracted criticism for its "detox" health claims to begin with, and the accidental transparency about how the post was constructed removed any remaining authenticity. It became one of the most cited examples of influencer marketing gone wrong and prompted a broader conversation about FTC disclosure requirements for celebrity endorsements.
Kendall Jenner and Pepsi (2017)
The Pepsi ad featuring Kendall Jenner is probably the most documented celebrity brand collaboration failure of the decade. The ad depicted Jenner leaving a modeling shoot to join a street protest, eventually handing a can of Pepsi to a police officer – a sequence that was widely read as co-opting the visual language of real civil rights demonstrations, particularly Black Lives Matter, for a soft drink commercial.
The public response was immediate and largely unified. Critics pointed out that the ad trivially resolved complex social tension with a carbonated beverage, and the timing – coming during a period of heightened national conversation about police violence – made it land particularly badly. Pepsi pulled the ad within 24 hours and issued an apology. Jenner addressed it in a 2017 episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, saying she felt "terrible" about it.
What's instructive here isn't that Jenner was solely responsible – this was a Pepsi production failure as much as a celebrity misjudgment – but that her presence was central to how the criticism landed. Celebrity brand partners absorb the reputational consequences of their collaborations, even when the creative decisions were made by the brand's own teams.
50 Cent and Vitamin Water
This one is more complicated than a simple win or loss. 50 Cent partnered with Glacéau (the makers of Vitamin Water) in 2004, taking equity rather than a flat fee, and when Coca-Cola acquired Glacéau in 2007 for $4.1 billion, he reportedly made somewhere between $60 and $100 million from the deal. Financially, it was one of the most successful celebrity brand deals in history.
The complication arrived in 2011, when 50 Cent was named in a class action lawsuit alleging that Vitamin Water's health claims were misleading – that the product was marketed as healthy despite containing 33 grams of sugar per bottle. The brand's legal response argued, in part, that "no consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking Vitaminwater was a healthy beverage." For 50 Cent, who had spent years personally endorsing the product as a health-conscious drink, that defense created a credibility problem. The financial outcome was extraordinary; the reputational fallout from the health claim controversy was a cost that isn't visible in the payout figure.
What Separates the Hits From the Misses
Looking across these examples, a few patterns emerge fairly clearly.
Authentic fit matters more than audience size. Rihanna's beauty brand and Reynolds' gin both worked because the celebrity's existing public identity and the product's purpose were genuinely aligned. The audience could see why that specific person was behind that specific product. When fit is absent – when it's clearly a placement for a paycheck – audiences detect it quickly.
Involving the celebrity in creative decisions produces better outcomes than putting them in front of a product. The Pepsi ad's failure was partly because Jenner was essentially talent in someone else's concept, without meaningful input into whether the ad's framing was appropriate. Reynolds' success with Aviation Gin was largely because he and his team had genuine creative control over how the brand showed up.
Health and wellness claims require particular care. Multiple celebrity-endorsed products have run into trouble specifically around health claims – a category where FTC scrutiny is higher, consumer skepticism is intense, and the gap between marketing language and product reality is often visible. Celebrities who put their name behind health benefit claims are taking on reputational exposure that outlasts the partnership.
Finally, the long-term viability of a celebrity brand deal depends on what happens when things go wrong. Celebrities who can respond authentically – who address failures publicly with genuine accountability rather than brand-managed damage control – tend to recover more fully than those whose response also feels like PR management.
FAQ
Do celebrities actually use the products they endorse? Sometimes, and audiences are increasingly good at telling when they don't. The FTC requires that celebrity endorsers have genuine connections to the products they promote, but enforcement is inconsistent. The more meaningful check is audience trust – celebrities who promote products that clearly don't fit their lifestyle tend to face credibility questions that affect all their subsequent endorsements.
How much do celebrities typically make from brand deals? It varies enormously. A single sponsored social post from a major celebrity can range from tens of thousands to millions of dollars. Equity deals like Reynolds' gin stake or 50 Cent's Vitamin Water arrangement can produce far larger returns, though they also carry more risk. Full brand ownership (like Rihanna with Fenty) produces the highest potential upside but requires genuine business involvement.
What happens to a brand when a celebrity partner has a public scandal? Most brand contracts include "morality clauses" that allow the brand to exit the deal if the celebrity's public behavior creates reputational risk. How quickly a brand moves depends on the nature and severity of the situation, the celebrity's response, and the brand's own audience. Fast-moving public relations situations – particularly those involving social media – have compressed the window brands have to make these decisions.
Are celebrity brands actually good products, or is it just marketing? Both exist. Fenty Beauty is genuinely well-regarded by makeup users independent of Rihanna's celebrity. Many other celebrity-attached products have received criticism for being average products sold at premium prices on the strength of a famous name. Consumer reviews and independent testing tend to separate the two fairly quickly.
📚 Sources
Forbes – Fenty Beauty's $100 million launch and valuation: https://www.forbes.com/sites/paularamos/2021/08/09/rihanna-is-officially-a-billionaire/
Adweek – Ryan Reynolds and Aviation Gin marketing strategy: https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/ryan-reynolds-aviation-gin/
The Guardian – Pepsi Kendall Jenner ad pulled after backlash: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/apr/05/pepsi-pulls-kendall-jenner-ad-amid-criticism-of-protest-scene
Business Insider – 50 Cent Vitamin Water deal and lawsuit: https://www.businessinsider.com/50-cent-vitamin-water-deal-2011
FTC – Endorsement guides for celebrities and influencers: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/ftcs-endorsement-guides-what-people-are-asking
WWD – Beyoncé Ivy Park Adidas partnership overview: https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/beyonce-adidas-ivy-park-partnership-ends-1235906813/
