# When Ads Go Wrong, Women Get the Blame

> Four famous campaigns blew up, and the women on camera carried the fallout long after the brands moved on.
- Title: When Ads Go Wrong, Women Get the Blame · Adweek | Shortify
- Summary: Four famous campaigns blew up, and the women on camera carried the fallout long after the brands moved on. The person in the frame rarely wrote the script…
- Keywords: advertising, celebrity endorsements, gender, branding, pr crisis, Ads, Wrong, Women, Get, Blame, Adweek
- Source: Adweek — https://adweek.com/brand-marketing/four-female-endorsers-left-holding-the-bag-for-ads-gone-wrong
- Author: Robert Klara
- Published: 2026-09-15T09:06:13+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: advertising, celebrity endorsements, gender, branding, pr crisis
## Sweeney wrote her own
Critics called Sydney Sweeney's nude Novig sports betting ad a cheap flesh play cooked up by some executive. She was in the creative conversations from the start.

> I've been a part of the creative conversations from the very beginning.
## That is the exception
When a campaign with a female endorser tanks, the blame usually lands on the woman on camera, whether or not she had any say in making it.
## Mary J. Blige got clobbered
Burger King had her rework "Don't Mind" to sell chicken wraps in 2012. Fans accused her of playing to a racial stereotype. The chain later admitted the aired spot was not final.

> Everybody dropped the ball, and I'm holding everything.
## Kendall Jenner handed a cop a Pepsi
The 2017 "Live for Now" ad turned Black Lives Matter into a soda commercial. Pepsi admitted it missed the mark. Jenner, 21 and barely briefed, took her share anyway.

> If I knew this would've been the outcome, I never would've done something like this.
## Brooke Shields was fifteen
The Calvin Klein line about nothing coming between her and her jeans was Klein and Richard Avedon's idea. America screamed at Shields and her mother for the innuendo.

> I was naive, I didn't think anything of it.
## Danica Patrick still pays
She had real creative input on GoDaddy's Super Bowl spots, but the frat boy theme came from founder Bob Parsons. Slate still pinned the squandered goodwill on her.

> People are right to be pissed at Danica Patrick.
## Key takeaway

The person in the frame rarely wrote the script, but she is the one the public remembers and punishes.