Shine OnChris Brown lands modelling contract: Should an agency really be signing this guy?
Chris Brown has landed a modelling contract with Wilhelmina International agency. Women everywhere should not rejoice.
Considering Brown was dropped from his Got Milk? and Wrigley's chewing gum campaigns in 2009 following his domestic violence conviction against girlfriend Rihanna, it's a bold move by the modelling agency.
Still, director of Wilhelmina Men, Taylor Hendrich, has high hopes for the controversial singer's modelling career.
"Chris Brown is a multifaceted artist with a unique take on style, and we are excited to translate and extend his brand," he says.
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Jezebel's Jenna Sauers wonders if there's any real demand for Brown as a spokesmodel at all, considering, well, everything.
"We somehow doubt there will be strong demand for Brown's services as a spokesmodel, what with the stupid neck tattoo, the terrorist Halloween costume, and the fact that, oh yeah, he once beat a woman into a bloody pulp by the side of the road," she writes.
The news of the contract comes as anti-domestic-violence protesters are using images of Rihanna's battered face to deter concert-goers from attending Brown's upcoming Stockholm concert.
According to the Daily Mail, this September a similar campaign took place in London, England, with stickers appearing on Brown's CDs in HMV stores reading: "Warning. Do not buy this album! This man beats women."
In her gone-viral article "I'm Not Okay with Chris Brown Performing at the Grammys and I'm Not Sure Why You Are," writer Sasha Pasulka accuses mainstream media of defending the abuser, rather than the victim, with bloggers coming to Brown's defence after the incident.
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When Usher commented that Brown should show some remorse, he received so much backlash that he was forced to apologize.
"We — the grown-up influencers in this country, the people with platforms and with educations and with power — are allowing a clear message to be sent to women: 'We will easily forgive a person who victimizes you. We are able to look beyond the fact that you were treated as less than human, that a bigger, stronger person decided to resolve a conflict with you through violence. We know it happened, but it's just not that big of a deal to us,'" Pasulka writes, critical of the Grammys' open-arms invitation to Brown just two years following the Grammy-night assault.
Brown who considers himself a role model for kids — he did write a cheque to a domestic-violence shelter, after all — recently tested positive for marijuana, which threatened his probation. Rihanna wished him the best in court. Anti-violence activists shuddered.
Yet still, Wilhelmina sees his spokesmodel potential. Will you be buying what he's selling?
