Oct 28, 2025
5 MIN READ
Case Studies
Case Studies
When Collaborations Backfire: Brands’ Influencer Marketing Lessons
When Collaborations Backfire: Brands’ Influencer Marketing Lessons
When Collaborations Backfire: Brands’ Influencer Marketing Lessons
Rashmi Singh
Rashmi Singh
Rashmi Singh
Rashmi Singh
Content Marketer @impulze.ai
Sections
Blog in Short ⏱️
Blog in Short ⏱️
A quick glance at the highlights—perfect for when you're short on time.
A quick glance at the highlights—perfect for when you're short on time.
Influencer marketing is powerful but sometimes it goes wrong. Here are some key takeaways from famous campaigns:
L’Oréal × Munroe Bergdorf: Dropped for speaking out, rehired later, showing values must be consistent.
Nike × Colin Kaepernick: Boldly stood by social cause, sales jumped 31%, brand loyalty grew.
Scott Disick × Bootea: Internal posting instructions went public, embarrassing both sides.
Pepsi × Kendall Jenner: Trivialized protests, ad pulled after backlash.
Lessons for brands:
Pick the right influencer fit.
Give creative freedom.
Consider context carefully.
Monitor campaigns in real time.
If you’re a brand, marketer, or influencer-campaigner, you know the promise of influencer partnerships is huge: authenticity, reach, trust. But when a collaboration goes wrong — misalignment, tone-deaf messaging, or simply bad execution — the fallout can be serious.
Today, let’s walk through some case studies of influencer marketing fails that hit the internet and how they impacted the narratives.
We’ll break down what happened, the backstory, how the brand responded, and the key takeaway you should apply to your next campaign with impulze.ai.
1. L’Oréal & Munroe Bergdorf: Upholding Inclusivity
The Controvery
In 2017, L’Oréal UK made a milestone move: they tapped Munroe Bergdorf — a Black, transgender model and activist — as part of their “True Match” campaign. This was the first time that the company's UK branch had employed an openly transgender model to front one of its campaigns. This was hailed as progress in an industry still grappling with diversity.
Shortly after, a Facebook post by Bergdorf in response to a white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville triggered a backlash.
In that post, which was deleted, she said, “Honestly I don’t have energy to talk about the racial violence of white people any more. Yes ALL white people, “Because most of ya’ll don’t even realise or refuse to acknowledge that your existence, privilege and success as a race is built on the backs, blood and death of people of colour. Your entire existence is drenched in racism… Come see me when you realise that racism isn’t learned, it’s inherited and consciously or unconsciously passed down through privilege.”
L’Oréal responded by dropping her from their campaign, saying her comments were “at odds with their values of diversity and tolerance.
However, this move didn’t sit well with many, and Bergdorf spoke out, saying L’Oréal should publicly apologize for how they handled the situation. She called out the brand for hypocrisy — pointing out that they hired her as a face of diversity, only to fire her for speaking up about racism.
Fast forward to 2020: amid the Black Lives Matter movement, L’Oréal posted a message of support, which Bergdorf initially called out as hypocritical.
This time, the company acted differently. Delphine Viguier, the new president of L’Oréal UK, apologized for the earlier missteps and brought Bergdorf onto their UK Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Board — showing a real commitment to putting their stated values into action.
Lessons Learned
Values need action, not just words: Promoting diversity only works if you’re ready to stand by it in tough moments.
Controversy can be constructive: When Bergdorf spoke out about systemic racism, it could have been a conversation starter — instead, the initial reaction hurt credibility.
Repair is possible, but costly: Bringing her back showed the brand could course-correct, but the initial misstep left a mark on reputation.
2. Nike & Colin Kaepernick: Embracing a Polarising Stance
The Controversy
In September 2018, Nike launched its 30th anniversary “Just Do It” campaign, which featured Colin Kaepernick — the former NFL quarterback who made headlines for kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice in 2016. Kaepernick’s protest sparked a national debate, and after leaving the 49ers, he went unsigned and later filed a grievance against the NFL, accusing team owners of collusion. He was undoubtedly a polarising figure.
Nike’s ad featured Kaepernick’s face alongside the headline: “Believe something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.”
Bold? Absolutely.
Controversial? You bet.
Many expected backlash, and they got it. Some people burned their Nike shoes and called for boycotts.
But here’s the twist: Despite the uproar, Nike’s online sales jumped 31% in the days following the campaign launch, compared with the same period the previous year.
The campaign also added $6 billion in brand value and earned the Grand Prix in the Creative Effectiveness category at Cannes! It generated $163 million in earned media — proof that taking a calculated risk can pay off.
Lessons Learned
Authenticity resonates: Audiences can tell when a brand genuinely stands by its values.
Calculated risk can pay off: Controversial topics can boost engagement and brand loyalty if aligned with your core audience.
Know your audience: Understanding who supports your values helps navigate backlash confidently.
Long-term brand identity matters: Bold moves strengthen perception of a brand that stands for something, not just sells something.
Interesting Thing to NoteL’Oréal and Nike faced similar controversies, but their approaches were very different. L’Oréal hesitated with Munroe Bergdorf, which hurt credibility, while Nike boldly backed Colin Kaepernick, turning controversy into engagement, loyalty, and even higher sales. |
3. Scott Disick × Bootea: A Lesson in Execution
The Controversy
In 2016, reality star Scott Disick posted an Instagram photo promoting Bootea, a fitness and detox brand. But something went hilariously wrong — he accidentally included the brand’s internal posting instructions in the caption:
"Here you go, at 4pm EST, write the below Caption: Keeping up with the summer workout routine with my morning @booteauk protein shake!"
The post was quickly deleted, but of course, screenshots live forever.
Fans and marketers alike found it pretty embarrassing, not just for Scott, but for Bootea too. Suddenly, what was meant to be a polished influencer campaign looked staged, robotic, and completely inauthentic.
Lessons Learned
Don’t micromanage everything: Give influencers creative freedom to make the content feel natural.
Always double-check captions and instructions: Even small errors can go viral for the wrong reasons.
Execution is key: Alignment with brand standards is important, but authenticity is what really connects with audiences.
Screenshots never die: Assume everything online can be captured and shared — plan accordingly.
4. Pepsi × Kendall Jenner — Probably the Most Famous Influencer Marketing Fail
The Controversy
In 2017, Pepsi rolled out a commercial featuring Kendall Jenner that was meant to be inspiring and unifying. The ad showed a group of diverse, young protestors marching in the streets. Kendall, curious and engaged, joins them and eventually hands a can of Pepsi to a police officer, with everyone smiling and tensions magically easing.
The idea behind the campaign? To convey positivity, unity, and the power of bringing people together. But audiences weren’t buying it.
Many felt the ad trivialized real social justice movements happening at the time — protests about police brutality and systemic inequality — and reduced serious, complex issues to a soda commercial.
The backlash was immediate. Social media lit up with criticism, memes, and parodies, and the campaign quickly became a viral example of “what not to do” in marketing.
Pepsi pulled the ad within days and issued a public apology. Still, the screenshots, GIFs, and discussions lived on, cementing this as one of the most talked-about influencer marketing blunders in history.
Lessons Learned
Context matters: If your campaign touches sensitive social issues, the messaging must be informed and respectful.
Celebrity alone isn’t enough: A star name can’t replace authenticity or a genuine connection to the topic.
Review everything carefully: Sensitive topics need extra scrutiny from multiple perspectives before launch.
Quick course correction helps, but prevention is better: Removing the ad limited further backlash, but the campaign could have been avoided with thoughtful planning.
Practical Takeaways for Your Next Influencer Marketing Campaign
Influencer marketing can be hugely rewarding but as these case studies show, even big brands can stumble if things aren’t planned carefully. Here are some key takeaways for brands and marketers:
Choose the right fit:
Don’t just look at follower counts. Make sure an influencer’s voice, values, and audience genuinely align with your brand. A perfect fit feels natural to both the creator and their audience, which makes the campaign more authentic and engaging.
Think context first:
If your campaign touches sensitive topics like social causes, cultural movements, or current events, then make sure the messaging is thoughtful, respectful, and well-researched. Understand the nuances before posting, and consider how different audiences might perceive it.
Balance guidance with freedom:
Over-scripting can make content feel robotic and inauthentic. Provide clear brand guidelines, key messaging points, and campaign goals in the brief, but let influencers bring their own voice and creativity to the content. Authenticity drives engagement far more than a perfectly polished script.
Monitor and react in real time:
Keep an eye on engagement, comments, and sentiment as soon as the campaign goes live. Early detection of potential issues allows you to respond quickly, adjust messaging, or even pause content before a small mistake turns into a public controversy.
Learn and iterate:
Every campaign — successful or not — offers valuable lessons. Take notes on what worked, what didn’t, and what surprised you. Share insights with your team and use them to improve future campaigns, so each new collaboration is smarter, smoother, and more effective.
How impulze.ai Can Help
Running influencer campaigns can get complex, especially when you’re juggling multiple creators, messaging, and sensitive topics. That’s where impulze.ai comes in. It’s designed to help brands stay smart, safe, and effective.
Discover the right influencers: Find creators whose audience, values, and engagement align with your brand, not just their follower count.
Check for brand alignment: Screen past collaborations to flag potential conflicts or tone-deaf messaging before anything goes live.
Track campaigns in real time: Monitor engagement, content quality, and audience reactions, so you can spot issues early and act fast.
Simplify your workflow: Manage outreach, influencers, briefs, and performance analytics all in one place, saving time while keeping campaigns on track.
With the right tools and a thoughtful approach, brands can turn influencer marketing into a powerful growth engine while avoiding embarrassing mistakes like the ones we’ve explored.
If you’re a brand, marketer, or influencer-campaigner, you know the promise of influencer partnerships is huge: authenticity, reach, trust. But when a collaboration goes wrong — misalignment, tone-deaf messaging, or simply bad execution — the fallout can be serious.
Today, let’s walk through some case studies of influencer marketing fails that hit the internet and how they impacted the narratives.
We’ll break down what happened, the backstory, how the brand responded, and the key takeaway you should apply to your next campaign with impulze.ai.
1. L’Oréal & Munroe Bergdorf: Upholding Inclusivity
The Controvery
In 2017, L’Oréal UK made a milestone move: they tapped Munroe Bergdorf — a Black, transgender model and activist — as part of their “True Match” campaign. This was the first time that the company's UK branch had employed an openly transgender model to front one of its campaigns. This was hailed as progress in an industry still grappling with diversity.
Shortly after, a Facebook post by Bergdorf in response to a white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville triggered a backlash.
In that post, which was deleted, she said, “Honestly I don’t have energy to talk about the racial violence of white people any more. Yes ALL white people, “Because most of ya’ll don’t even realise or refuse to acknowledge that your existence, privilege and success as a race is built on the backs, blood and death of people of colour. Your entire existence is drenched in racism… Come see me when you realise that racism isn’t learned, it’s inherited and consciously or unconsciously passed down through privilege.”
L’Oréal responded by dropping her from their campaign, saying her comments were “at odds with their values of diversity and tolerance.
However, this move didn’t sit well with many, and Bergdorf spoke out, saying L’Oréal should publicly apologize for how they handled the situation. She called out the brand for hypocrisy — pointing out that they hired her as a face of diversity, only to fire her for speaking up about racism.
Fast forward to 2020: amid the Black Lives Matter movement, L’Oréal posted a message of support, which Bergdorf initially called out as hypocritical.
This time, the company acted differently. Delphine Viguier, the new president of L’Oréal UK, apologized for the earlier missteps and brought Bergdorf onto their UK Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Board — showing a real commitment to putting their stated values into action.
Lessons Learned
Values need action, not just words: Promoting diversity only works if you’re ready to stand by it in tough moments.
Controversy can be constructive: When Bergdorf spoke out about systemic racism, it could have been a conversation starter — instead, the initial reaction hurt credibility.
Repair is possible, but costly: Bringing her back showed the brand could course-correct, but the initial misstep left a mark on reputation.
2. Nike & Colin Kaepernick: Embracing a Polarising Stance
The Controversy
In September 2018, Nike launched its 30th anniversary “Just Do It” campaign, which featured Colin Kaepernick — the former NFL quarterback who made headlines for kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice in 2016. Kaepernick’s protest sparked a national debate, and after leaving the 49ers, he went unsigned and later filed a grievance against the NFL, accusing team owners of collusion. He was undoubtedly a polarising figure.
Nike’s ad featured Kaepernick’s face alongside the headline: “Believe something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.”
Bold? Absolutely.
Controversial? You bet.
Many expected backlash, and they got it. Some people burned their Nike shoes and called for boycotts.
But here’s the twist: Despite the uproar, Nike’s online sales jumped 31% in the days following the campaign launch, compared with the same period the previous year.
The campaign also added $6 billion in brand value and earned the Grand Prix in the Creative Effectiveness category at Cannes! It generated $163 million in earned media — proof that taking a calculated risk can pay off.
Lessons Learned
Authenticity resonates: Audiences can tell when a brand genuinely stands by its values.
Calculated risk can pay off: Controversial topics can boost engagement and brand loyalty if aligned with your core audience.
Know your audience: Understanding who supports your values helps navigate backlash confidently.
Long-term brand identity matters: Bold moves strengthen perception of a brand that stands for something, not just sells something.
Interesting Thing to NoteL’Oréal and Nike faced similar controversies, but their approaches were very different. L’Oréal hesitated with Munroe Bergdorf, which hurt credibility, while Nike boldly backed Colin Kaepernick, turning controversy into engagement, loyalty, and even higher sales. |
3. Scott Disick × Bootea: A Lesson in Execution
The Controversy
In 2016, reality star Scott Disick posted an Instagram photo promoting Bootea, a fitness and detox brand. But something went hilariously wrong — he accidentally included the brand’s internal posting instructions in the caption:
"Here you go, at 4pm EST, write the below Caption: Keeping up with the summer workout routine with my morning @booteauk protein shake!"
The post was quickly deleted, but of course, screenshots live forever.
Fans and marketers alike found it pretty embarrassing, not just for Scott, but for Bootea too. Suddenly, what was meant to be a polished influencer campaign looked staged, robotic, and completely inauthentic.
Lessons Learned
Don’t micromanage everything: Give influencers creative freedom to make the content feel natural.
Always double-check captions and instructions: Even small errors can go viral for the wrong reasons.
Execution is key: Alignment with brand standards is important, but authenticity is what really connects with audiences.
Screenshots never die: Assume everything online can be captured and shared — plan accordingly.
4. Pepsi × Kendall Jenner — Probably the Most Famous Influencer Marketing Fail
The Controversy
In 2017, Pepsi rolled out a commercial featuring Kendall Jenner that was meant to be inspiring and unifying. The ad showed a group of diverse, young protestors marching in the streets. Kendall, curious and engaged, joins them and eventually hands a can of Pepsi to a police officer, with everyone smiling and tensions magically easing.
The idea behind the campaign? To convey positivity, unity, and the power of bringing people together. But audiences weren’t buying it.
Many felt the ad trivialized real social justice movements happening at the time — protests about police brutality and systemic inequality — and reduced serious, complex issues to a soda commercial.
The backlash was immediate. Social media lit up with criticism, memes, and parodies, and the campaign quickly became a viral example of “what not to do” in marketing.
Pepsi pulled the ad within days and issued a public apology. Still, the screenshots, GIFs, and discussions lived on, cementing this as one of the most talked-about influencer marketing blunders in history.
Lessons Learned
Context matters: If your campaign touches sensitive social issues, the messaging must be informed and respectful.
Celebrity alone isn’t enough: A star name can’t replace authenticity or a genuine connection to the topic.
Review everything carefully: Sensitive topics need extra scrutiny from multiple perspectives before launch.
Quick course correction helps, but prevention is better: Removing the ad limited further backlash, but the campaign could have been avoided with thoughtful planning.
Practical Takeaways for Your Next Influencer Marketing Campaign
Influencer marketing can be hugely rewarding but as these case studies show, even big brands can stumble if things aren’t planned carefully. Here are some key takeaways for brands and marketers:
Choose the right fit:
Don’t just look at follower counts. Make sure an influencer’s voice, values, and audience genuinely align with your brand. A perfect fit feels natural to both the creator and their audience, which makes the campaign more authentic and engaging.
Think context first:
If your campaign touches sensitive topics like social causes, cultural movements, or current events, then make sure the messaging is thoughtful, respectful, and well-researched. Understand the nuances before posting, and consider how different audiences might perceive it.
Balance guidance with freedom:
Over-scripting can make content feel robotic and inauthentic. Provide clear brand guidelines, key messaging points, and campaign goals in the brief, but let influencers bring their own voice and creativity to the content. Authenticity drives engagement far more than a perfectly polished script.
Monitor and react in real time:
Keep an eye on engagement, comments, and sentiment as soon as the campaign goes live. Early detection of potential issues allows you to respond quickly, adjust messaging, or even pause content before a small mistake turns into a public controversy.
Learn and iterate:
Every campaign — successful or not — offers valuable lessons. Take notes on what worked, what didn’t, and what surprised you. Share insights with your team and use them to improve future campaigns, so each new collaboration is smarter, smoother, and more effective.
How impulze.ai Can Help
Running influencer campaigns can get complex, especially when you’re juggling multiple creators, messaging, and sensitive topics. That’s where impulze.ai comes in. It’s designed to help brands stay smart, safe, and effective.
Discover the right influencers: Find creators whose audience, values, and engagement align with your brand, not just their follower count.
Check for brand alignment: Screen past collaborations to flag potential conflicts or tone-deaf messaging before anything goes live.
Track campaigns in real time: Monitor engagement, content quality, and audience reactions, so you can spot issues early and act fast.
Simplify your workflow: Manage outreach, influencers, briefs, and performance analytics all in one place, saving time while keeping campaigns on track.
With the right tools and a thoughtful approach, brands can turn influencer marketing into a powerful growth engine while avoiding embarrassing mistakes like the ones we’ve explored.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was the Pepsi Kendall Jenner ad so controversial?
Why was the Pepsi Kendall Jenner ad so controversial?
Why was the Pepsi Kendall Jenner ad so controversial?
What happened after the Pepsi ad controversy?
What happened after the Pepsi ad controversy?
What happened after the Pepsi ad controversy?
How did Nike’s Colin Kaepernick campaign impact the brand?
How did Nike’s Colin Kaepernick campaign impact the brand?
How did Nike’s Colin Kaepernick campaign impact the brand?
What happened with L’Oréal and Munroe Bergdorf?
What happened with L’Oréal and Munroe Bergdorf?
What happened with L’Oréal and Munroe Bergdorf?
What was Scott Disick’s Bootea Instagram fail?
What was Scott Disick’s Bootea Instagram fail?
What was Scott Disick’s Bootea Instagram fail?
How can brands avoid influencer marketing mistakes?
How can brands avoid influencer marketing mistakes?
How can brands avoid influencer marketing mistakes?
What tools can help brands manage influencer marketing better?
What tools can help brands manage influencer marketing better?
What tools can help brands manage influencer marketing better?
Author Bio
Author Bio
Rashmi Singh
Rashmi Singh
Rashmi Singh is a writer and strategist with more than 7 years of experience. When not writing, she is either spending time with her friends or planning her next trip. You can learn more about her here.
Rashmi Singh is a writer and strategist with more than 7 years of experience. When not writing, she is either spending time with her friends or planning her next trip. You can learn more about her here.
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May be Later
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30K+ Active Users
May be Later