Is the celebrity tequila trend really about making a quick million? Kendall Jenner, Michael Jordan and Dwayne Johnson have their own brands – but not all are doing the Mexican spirit justice

Aug 26 , 2021

Kendall Jenner is just one of many celebs changing Mexico’s tequila industry. Photo: @kendalljenner/Instagram

Hollywood actor George Clooney sold his Casamigos brand for US$1 billion in 2017 – then NBA star LeBron James, Nick Jonas and more soon debuted their own labels

But critics question the environmental impact, as forests are bulldozed for agave, and whether foreign companies driving out small local producers is ‘cultural appropriation’

People in the tequila industry call it the “Clooney effect.”

In 2017, actor George Clooney announced he was selling his five-year-old Casamigos tequila brand to a British drink company for the staggering sum of US$1 billion. Almost overnight, it seemed that every A-list celebrity was debuting a tequila label – from Arnold Schwarzenegger to LeBron James, Nick Jonas and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

The flood of celebrity brands has helped fuel record growth in the industry. Mexico, the source of all tequila, last year produced 60 million gallons – 800 per cent more than two decades ago.

But not everybody is happy with the industry’s rapid growth, which carries both an environmental price – as farmers bulldoze forests to plant more agave – and a cultural one – with foreigners playing an ever-growing role in one of Mexico’s proudest cultural traditions.

Salvador “Chava” Rosales Trejo, who helps run the craft distillery Tequila Cascahuin and is the grandson of its founder, said many celebrities don’t grasp what it really takes to make tequila.

Those tensions bubbled to the surface this year when supermodel Kendall Jenner, who is no stranger to controversy, unveiled her latest business venture: a spirits brand called 818 Tequila.

Kendall Jenner’s 818 Tequila. Photo: @kendalljenner/Instagram

Critics cried cultural appropriation, pointing out grammatical mistakes in the Spanish on the early labels and lambasting ads that showed Jenner astride a horse galloping through fields of agave. Jenner, who named the brand after the area code for the San Fernando Valley, was accused by online commenters of tequila “gentrification”.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x