Hunting trip photographs costs her dear

L’Oreal severs links with Belgium football supporter Axelle Despiegelaere

The world of fashion is known to be cut-throat, aggressive and extremely competitive. All it takes is a single mistake and the world will turn its back on you. Corporate world in general is no different but the fashion world seems to make more news and garners much more attention than the rest. Axelle Despiegelaere was at the receiving end of this recently and found out just how quickly one can be thrown out if one is not careful.

Overnight popularity awaited Axelle Despiegelaere after the 17 year old’s picture was flashed everywhere giving her the title of “The Most Beautiful” football supporter during the World Cup at Brazil. With social media working overtime, her pictures went viral and thanks to the sudden popularity, L’Oreal decided to award her a contract to star in a L’Oreal Professional Belgique social media campaign. The video of her receiving L’Oreal hair treatment that was posted last Tuesday has received over a million views till now.

All seemed to go well till a series of her hunting photographs surfaced online. These photographs that were posted on the social media site ‘Facebook”, showed her posing next to a dead animal with a rifle during a hunting trip. The pictures went viral too and sparked quite an outrage on social media sites.

Acting on this outrage, L’Oreal decided to sever ties with the Belgian football fan although the reasons for the decision have not exactly been attributed to the photographs. According to the French cosmetic giant’s spokesperson, Axelle Despiegelaere was never a spokesperson for the brand and her limited contract had come to an end. L’Oreal apparently collaborated with Axelle on an ad hoc basis and only to make a video that was to be used on social media sites in her country, Belgium and since the video was completed, the contract too ended.

The spokesperson went on to insist that L’Oreal, though aware of the existence of the photographs, would not comment on whether the decision of terminating Axelle’s contract was made on its basis. The popular cosmetics company went on to add that their products are no longer tested on animals, anywhere in the world and that they do not delegate this task to others either.

Being one of the biggest cosmetics and beauty companies in the world, L’Oreal has carved a niche for itself in products that span make-up, hair and skin care. The company has a great range of famous ambassadors across the world and is well known for its umpteen multi-million dollar modeling contracts too. With animal advocates protesting animal testing in all its forms, many cosmetic companies have taken to non-animal tested products. Since L’Oreal has been officially on the list, these photographs might have hit the nerve.