Almost (too) famous

In the past six weeks, Tiger Woods has seen several of his corporate partners end their endorsement contracts with him (AT&T), pull their Tiger-related products (Gatorade) or kill Tiger-focused ad campaigns (Tag Heuer). In their carefully worded news releases, the companies generally opted for language like "no longer the right representative" for our company (Accenture).

Obviously, in marketing-ese, that Accenture quote translates pretty clearly into "apparently slept with about 428 cocktail waitresses and future porn stars, which wasn't exactly what we had in mind for our highest paid endorser." I get that.

What I'm wondering is: What exactly do the good folks at the St. John apparel company mean when they explain that they're scrapping their Angelina Jolie ads because the actress "has overshadowed the brand"?

Because it's not like Jolie was a little-known up-and-comer when they signed her back in 2007. She was already Mrs. Pitt and a tabloid fixture - nay, tabloid hall-of-famer. And, at least according to my marketing textbook, massive, consistent and overwhelmingly positive media exposure isn't usually the kind of thing that compels companies to drop celebrity spokespeople, who were, after all, hired for their ability to generate exposure.

I don't want to start any rumors, but maybe they're getting ahead of the curve in case the world soon discovers that ongoing Angelina-Tiger relationship.