Are Advertisers Taking Advantage of Lindsay Lohan?

By Maggie Coughlan Posted Jul 7th 2010 02:35PM

Just before Lindsay Lohan appeared in court Tuesday, she surprised her Twitter followers with a tweet about a sale on Louis Vuitton bags. For someone facing a potential jail sentence, heralding a sale seemed rather inappropriate. The post, sponsored by online auction site FashionBay, proclaimed, "OMG!? An LV bag for $1 at FashionBay! Maybe I can get lucky and win something cool here!"

While it probably wasn't the best time for Lohan to bust out a sponsored tweet, as she was sentenced to 90 days in jail and a 90-day inpatient rehab stint soon thereafter, the advertiser may have been looking to capitalize on Lohan's emotional sentencing. And it worked -- the post was quickly retweeted by more than 100 people!

Lohan is no stranger to ad placement in her tweets. Just last week, she tweeted, "I love Fendi!! Beyond the Rack has it today for 50% off. I love this place!" A few days earlier, in a truly odd pairing, LiLo posted, "Want to get up to 75% off on great vacation deals? Just got a few invites to this exclusive site. Join now & RT." Both tweets were supplemented with links and the word "ad."

Lindsay Lohan court

Ad.ly is one of several companies aiding celebrities in making money through ad placement in tweets. According to Ad.ly, the service "enables you to monetize the valuable content you are producing in streams like Twitter, MySpace and Facebook. Ad.ly pays you to send an ad to your followers on behalf of brands you love (like an ad unit placed inside your stream). You get to approve every ad that gets sent to your followers to ensure authenticity."

Kim Kardashian, 50 Cent, E! Online, Ashlee Simpson Wentz and Soulja Boy are among Ad.ly's top "publishers," who are paid by advertisers to tweet in favor of a brand or product.

In Lohan's case, timing was everything. As the Internet buzzed about her appearance in court, the FashionBay-sponsored tweet went live. Then, just a few hours later, Lohan met with Judge Marsha Revel to learn her fate -- the news of which dominated Google searches all afternoon.

Was the decision to run a sponsored tweet the morning of Lohan's court appearance a stroke of marketing genius? An act of desperation on Lohan's end? Or simply an insensitive play on the downfall of a once-successful actress?

Sean Rad, founder and president of Ad.ly commented that "advertisers plan their campaigns months in advance and do not pick publishers based on their news standing."

Last January, several sources revealed that many celebrities were paid to tweet about brands and services. OK! Magazine reported that "celebrities including Nicole Richie, Kim Kardashian, Whitney Port and Audrina Patridge can reportedly earn up to $10,000 per tweet for companies including Sony and Nestle."

Kardashian later lashed out in the New York Post, saying, "Am I not allowed to talk about something I like without people assuming I must have been paid to do it? ... I want my fans to know what products, gadgets, foods, clothes and beauty products I like."

Twitter advertising has expanded from sponsored tweets to "promoted trends," where brands can pay to appear in the list of "trending topics" or hottest terms on Twitter.

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Lindsay in Court

Lindsay Lohan reacts to a judges sentence at the Beverly Hills Courthouse on July 6, 2010 in Los Angeles. More Photos >>

AFP/Getty Images

POOL

Lindsay Lohan Snapshots

TO GO WITH AFP STORY ENTERTAINMENT-US-FILM-PEOPLE-LOHAN-JAIL-FINGERNAIL Lindsay Lohan sits with a message written on her fingernail before she is sentanced to 90 days jail by Judge Marsha Revel during her hearing at the Beverly Hills Courthouse on July 6, 2010. She sobbed and pleaded in court not to be thrown in jail, but troubled Hollywood starlet Lindsay Lohan had another, far less plaintive message for the judge, written on the fingernail of her middle finger. Photographers using telephoto lenses captured photos showing that Lohan, hand pressed against her mouth, had the words "fuck u" carefully written over a multicolored pastiche of pastel nail polish(Middle Finger-R). The judge ordered Lohan, 24, to spend 90 days in jail for violating probation in two 2007 drunken driving cases. She also was ordered to take part in a 90-day in-patient substance abuse program. AFP PHOTO/POOL/David McNew (Photo credit should read DAVID MCNEW/AFP/Getty Images)

Lindsay Lohan Snapshots

** EDS NOTE: OBSCENE LANGUAGE ON LEFT MIDDLE FINGERNAIL ** RECROPPED VERSION ** FILE - In this July 6, 2010 file photo, actress Lindsay Lohan, with profane language written on her middle fingernail, reacts after the sentencing by Superior Court Judge Marsha Reve during a hearing in Beverly Hills, Calif. The judge sentenced Lindsay Lohan to 90 days in jail Tuesday after ruling she violated probation in a 2007 drug case by failing to attend court-ordered alcohol education classes. (AP Photo/David McNew, Pool, File)

Lindsay Lohan Snapshots

Lindsay Lohan with fuck you on her nails at Beverly Hills court July 6, 2010 X17online.com exclusive

Lindsay Lohan Snapshots

Lindsay Lohan with fuck you on her nails at Beverly Hills court July 6, 2010 X17online.com exclusive

Lindsay Lohan Snapshots

Lindsay Lohan with fuck you on her nails at Beverly Hills court July 6, 2010 X17online.com exclusive

Lindsay Lohan Snapshots

Lindsay Lohan with fuck you on her nails at Beverly Hills court July 6, 2010 X17online.com exclusive

Lindsay Lohan Snapshots

LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 06: (EDITORS NOTE: THIS IMAGE CONTAINS EXPLICIT LANGUAGE ON THE SUBJECT'S FINGERNAIL) Actress Lindsay Lohan attends her probation revocation hearing at the Beverly Hills Courthouse on July 6, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. Lindsay Lohan was found in violation of her probation for the August 2007 no-contest plea to drug and alcohol charges stemming from two separate traffic accidents, she is scheduled to surrender on July 20, 2010 to serve her 90 day jail sentence. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Lohan Snapshots

Tags: advertising, Lindsay Lohan, Twitter

Comments

(3)

Wednesday 07 July

By jess

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Shows how lighty she took going to court. Spoil people like her need a wake up call.This girl has gotten away with everything and continued to act like it`s everyone elses fault..Not any more..

By WORLDCUP

Low Ranked Vote down Vote up Report this

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By mw

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I agree, she thinks she is about the law, not anymore, she should serve the full 90 days, not 23. If you or I did what she did, we would have been in jail right after it happened not 3 yrs later.

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