It may be a coveted job, but it's not easy being a celebrity, especially one with a 100 million yuan contract with a major cosmetic line. Recently mainland actress Vicki Zhao Wei (right), best known for her comedic role in Shaolin Soccer, lost her endorsement contract with Shisheido cosmetics due to a string of negative press reports. According to Zhao, she gave Shisheido the boot, rather than the other way around.
It's a tricky line for large corporations to sign up major celebrities to endorse their products, because they risk the celeb becoming involved in scandals (who can possibly be on their best behaviour all the time?). So it's not surprising that adidas gave David Beckham a firm warning when he was seen wearing Nike trainers, weight loss company Slim-Fast ditched Whoopi Goldberg after she made anti-Bush remarks, and greedy Jennifer Lopez got dumped by Louis Vuitton after she took home every item of designer goods in the studio after shooting the Vuitton campaign in Paris earlier this year. According to the New York Daily News, the pop star took 'shoes, dresses, bags ... everything'.