What Are the Limits of Unbranding?

Celebrity endorsements have been popular for a long time, but fashion experts are reportedly now practicing a new marketing strategy loosely known as “unbranding”: “Allegedly, the anxious folks at these various luxury houses are all aggressively gifting our gal Snookums with free bags. No surprise, right? But here’s the shocker: They are not sending her their?own bags. They are sending her each other’s bags!?Competitors‘ bags!” Apparently an endorsement from “Snookums,” a.k.a. Snooki of Jersey Shore fame, is poison for a luxury handbag designer. Surely this strategy has been, or will be, practiced by other agents, large and small. (And yes, signing one’s enemy up for a porn-magazine subscription really does get his attention.) Readers, any thoughts? What are the limits to an unbranding strategy? (HT: Marginal Revolution) [%comments]