As with a lot of high profile public figure brand collaborations, imagine a conference room stuffed with brand representatives, creative agency representatives, talent agents and other interested parties looking to bring some sort of idea to fruition.

Now, imagine the same thing, but a public figure on the meeting agenda has some controversy of sorts. The talent agents are making the case for their clients while the other interested parties are weighing the pros and cons of using such a public figure to peddle their product. White boards with decision tree diagrams, 'market research and focus group' info populate otherwise bare walls...smarmy goobers spout out industry lingo in an effort to one-up their case and desired outcome, whatever that may be...and a bunch of stressed out, scrunchy faces fill a room as the collective tries to wrangle up a way to move forward.

Was this part of the workflow in the campaign we're about to discuss? Maybe or maybe not, but however the whole thing played out, I'm sure at the very least an e-mail or two considering the risks vs. the rewards was read among a group of stakeholders and decision-makers.

At the beginning of November, footwear and apparel mainstay Steve Madden launched the media campaign, 'The Perfect Pair' in which various mother/daughter influencers and public figures were featured in digital ads and social media content, including dedicated space on the primary e-commerce site, stevemadden.com...though at time of writing the campaign is not predominantly featured.

Normally such a campaign, especially outside the traditional Mother's Day holiday could be considered wholesome content. That said, one of the duos substantially featured in this campaign were Lori Loughlin and Olivia Jade Gianulli. To refresh the situation around this pair, in 2019 Loughlin was indicted by the FBI and U.S Attorney's office for fraud and bribery offenses related to a college admissions scandal. Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Gianulli ultimately pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire amd mail fraud; one charge for Loughlin and one charge for Mossimo Gianulli. At time of writing, all criminal sentences have been served, though civil and class action lawsuits are seemingly open. (Source: Wikipedia)

Olivia Jade, a fashion and beauty influencer with a substantial following of her own, lost deals with a multitude of brands upon discovery of this scandal. Though a few years have passed since the whole thing went down, has the consumer forgot or forgave the actions initiated by the family?  The focus of our article will focus on interaction and reaction to the campaign in question, taking a point/counterpoint approach to the advertising in question.

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If through life or happenstance you find yourself a pariah after doing something society finds deplorable even after restitutions paid and time served, partner up with an organization that's somehow relatable to a variety of social demographic groups to see where you really stand.

Exaggerations aside, there are definitely some parallels between the scenario above and the Steve Madden ads & posts featuring Loughlin and Jade. A lot of people had a lot of opinions around the whole college bribery situation as it played out, and using a brand that seems to resonate with a rather large demographic will yield a litmus test of sorts in regard to how society views the individuals and their actions in current times.

And did it ever.

Even with the ability to curate and control the conversation on a platform like Instagram, people were quick to throw down on the decision to feature these two; from comments such as 'unfollow' & 'we didn't forget what they did', to 'I'll be buying my next pair of shoes from Sam Edelman instead'^*

Moving the conversation over to the reasonably active r/popculturechat subreddit, the diversity of viewpoints is much more substantial; with one user mentioning that 'any press is good press', while others called out the old days of Steve Madden ads being of better than current day campaigns.

All that said, this is a small sampling of the entire cluster of reaction.

Even with the adverse reaction to the whole thing, many were supportive of the campaign featuring Loughlin and Jade. Of the more substantive comments, some pointed out the...trend...💭...of cancel culture is gradually going away with this spotlight, while others simply appreciated the mother/daughter chemistry the ads portrayed. This isn't to say that the bribery incident was forgotten all together, but many of the more thoughtful comments revolved around the idea that their debt to society has been paid in spades and it's time to move on. Granted, the conversation on Instagram can be moderated to a greater degree in comparison to platforms like Reddit, in many cases organic & genuine commentary can be encountered regardless of the source, and it seem to be a fair statement that there are empathetic perspectives on the campaign.

All things considered, this was the perfect collaboration on many fronts. The eponymous founder of Steve Madden commented in an interview with fashion publication Women's Wear Daily (WWD) that, "We’ve both had trials and tribulations in our lives. I was just happy to do it. They are such nice people," further adding, "I don’t think anybody cares. It’s old news. We have these second chances in life, as I did. That’s it. The way I look at it, she paid her debt to society. It’s over." (Source: WWD [Note - article behind paywall]) In the quote, Madden is referring to criminal charges of stock manipulation, money laundering, and securities fraud in which he was convicted of in 2002.

In a society that's made it easy for a majority of people to express an opinion or viewpoint, whether or not Madden is correct in this statement simply depends on which audience one listens to, as a mix of perspectives have been shared on the entire issue. It is worth noting that time of writing, the campaign is not heavily emphasized or featured aside from historical posts on social media; but given we're hitting the biggest shopping events of the year with Black Friday, Cyber Monday and end-of-year sales, it's not extraordinarily surprising that advertising focus has changed. Nonetheless, the interaction and reaction to the campaign had a good mix of insight, entertainment, and ruthless hot takes.

Reflecting back to the 2019 scandal, it's not like Loughlin and Jade were featured in any crew/rowing or any athletic wear campaigns...imagine the reaction if that were the case 🤣💀

(Non-editorial note: Steve Madden is definitely on the list of upcoming brand profile reviews but for the time being, hopefully the content above starts setting the stage for a deeper dive of the brand)