Asda drops Coleen in upmarket drive

by Ben Bold, Brand Republic 22-Apr-08, 08:55

LONDON - Asda has axed Coleen McLoughlin, girlfriend of Manchester United and England football star Wayne Rooney, as the face of its advertising, to concentrate on appealing to a more upmarket shopper.

The supermarket chain's £3m two-year contract with Rooney's fiancee came to an end last month and the company has decided not to renew it.

Asda executives think that the 22-year-old WAG McLoughlin is too young to represent the brand's George clothing range, which it wants to target at the over-25s.

According to a report in The Daily Mail, Asda is aiming its sights at more "upmarket" celebrities to appear in its advertising, such as Joanna Lumley, Helen Mirren, Sienna Miller and, according to a source of the paper, the French President's wife Carla Bruni.

There is no confirmation if, former model and now singer, Bruni, who is Italian, has ever been in to an Asda.

Asda is the latest supermarket linked to dumping an arguably downmarket celebrity from its advertising. In January, Iceland denied speculation that fomer Atomic Kitten Kerry Katona had been dropped from its advertising, arguing that she was still under contract.

Asda's advertising is created by Fallon and recent campaigns have starred celebrities including football pundit Ian Wright, Ozzy Osbourne's wife Sharon and comedians Paul Whitehouse and Victoria Wood.

Comments

alex parr - 22/04/2008

i think that's really funny. coleen isn't upmarket enough even for asda. bless her. never really got her myself.

Julian Gregory - 22/04/2008

Liz Hurley?

Claudio Simone - 22/04/2008

COLLEEN, UPMARKET! NO WAY GREAT SHE WAS CANCELLED HER APPEAL IS TO YOUNG

Gordon Macmillan - 22/04/2008

Amy Winehouse.

Jonathan Godson - 22/04/2008

If anybody can show me an Asda that has customers like Helen Mirren, Joanna Lumley and Sienna Miller (let alone Carla Bruni) then I could see their line of reasoning. I'd also start shopping there myself! "Asda upmarket shopper" to me is an oxymoron. With the credit crunch all around us, I'm not sure that now is the best time to be relocating your core customer base upmarket.