New marketing trend: "Unbranding"

Simon Doonan at New York Observer says that celebrity swag has become anti-swag in the case of some downmarket sub-lebrities. Using Jersey Shore's Snooki as an example, Doonan says that luxury houses are allegedly sending out competitors' products to keep their own brands from being associated with people in the news who don't match their brands' carefully-crafted images. Sounds as if Mary Bale is going to have a new wardrobe next week!

How Snooki Got Her Gucci: The Dirt on Purses
[observer.com] via Business Insider

(Image via Wikimedia Commons. Fake memo 'shooped in for funzies.)