Forever 21 Sued Of $10 Million By Pop Idol Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande is one of the most recognizable faces of the pop music industry today. The multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning artist is best known for her collaborations with artists such as Jessie J, Nicki Minaj and Mac Miller, and her award-winning albums including debut ‘Yours Truly’ and her most recent ‘Thank U, Next’.

On Monday, the singer filed a lawsuit against high street clothing brand, Forever 21, after she denied a brand endorsement deal resulting from talks that lead into the new year. The clothing brand still decided to pursue their ideas from the failed endorsement without the aid of the chart-topping singer/songwriter, with alleged help from the founders' second company, Riley Rose. The brand eventually launched a new ad campaign using the hashtag #LifeWithF21, featuring images of a model that looked just like the 26-year-old superstar. Grande claims that the company was false advertising to buyers, making it look like she had backed the campaign from the beginning, as they use captions on their posts such as ‘Gee thanks, just bought it’ and ‘You want it, we got it!’ referencing to lyrics from her hit ‘7 Rings’.

In February 2019, Grande became one of the most followed women on Instagram, racking up an impressive 160 million in followers. It is known that any marketing post thought to be endorsed, or to include such an influential name like Grande’s, can have a huge impact on the engagement it receives, hence why deals can total into millions of dollars. The ad campaign mimicking Grande featured around 30 images and videos which were posted to various social media platforms, looking noticeably similar to stills from her own music videos, whilst also tagging her in captions. The images showed a model with a likeness to Grande, wearing the same hairstyle and clothing worn in her ‘7 Rings’ music video. Some videos featuring on the brand's pages even had her songs playing in the background. These actions were hugely misinterpreted by excitable fans who thought Grande had a big part to play in the campaign.

The lawsuit is seeking at least $10 million for copyright and trademark infringement, false endorsements and a violated right of publicity. These actions will prohibit Forever 21 from using Grande’s name, personal image and any sort of likeness in further advertisements. As a consequence of the brands' reckless actions, there is word that they won’t actually able to afford to deal with the lawsuit, resulting in a potential declaration for bankruptcy. A court date is not yet known for the case.

Image credit: Hollywood Life. 

Next up, Transgender Model Teddy Is The New Poster-Girl For Chanel Beauty