L’Oreal Cuts Ties With World Cup Model After Hunting Photo [Photo]
That was a fast dream for the World Cup model. After crass photos leaked out of 17-year-old Axelle Despiegelaere with a gazelle she hunted and killed, L’Oreal has cut ties with the World Cup viral beauty.
News had hit that Axelle Despiegelaere was involved in a L’Oreal contract after she returned home from her very viral trip to the World Cup. She initially received attention after her World Cup cheerleading photos went viral, sparking interest and immediate fame. However, now the Belgium fan is paying the price for a disturbing photo that went viral after Axelle’s offensive Facebook post resurfaced.
L’Oreal dumps Belgian football fan Axelle Despiegelaere after hunting trip photo provokes outrage. pic.twitter.com/B5O6SspVKr
— 2014 World Cup (@2014WorIdCup) July 11, 2014
Although the teen is obviously beautiful, fans weren’t celebrating the model’s beauty after the photo of Axelle with a gazelle she shot and killed while hunting went viral. The caption made the photo even more offensive as Despiegelaere stated:
“Hunting is not a matter of life or death. It’s much more important than that… this was about 1 year ago… ready to hunt Americans today haha.”
The model then quickly apologized after the immediate backlash she received when the photo resurfaced. Feeling the pressure, Axelle said, “I didn’t mean to offend anyone… it was a joke.”
Unfortunately, the damage was already done in the eyes of L’Oreal, a makeup company who in the past has been caught in the middle of controversy for animal testing. Although they no longer test animals, they decided to cut their contract With Axelle.
This story annoys me, but honestly kind of impressed by her social media skills. http://t.co/Bl7EYKq6zg pic.twitter.com/dO10AxIuFC — Maria LaMagna (@MCLaMagna) July 9, 2014
In a statement a rep from the company said to The Independent:
“L’Oréal Professionnel Belgium collaborated with her on an ad hoc basis to produce a video for social media use in Belgium. The contract has now been completed.”
Axelle Despiegelaere had filmed a video for L’Oreal, which acted as a hair tutorial that promoted the companies products.
Le gustan las belgas? A mí si: Axelle Despiegelaere #Mundial2014 pic.twitter.com/pbmnnnr7nM
— Kike (@blueviking) July 11, 2014
¡Me acabo de enamorar! Axelle Despiegelaere, pura perfección belga. @axelle_dsp pic.twitter.com/PUzscx9o5S
— Carlos Mingarro Jr ® (@CMinIzuz) July 9, 2014
Initially when the photo went viral we previously reported that L’Oreal hadn’t made a comment about the photo, but it looks like they felt the heat and decided to stick to their high profile spokespeople like Jennifer Lopez and Blake Lively.
[Images via Twitter and Facebook]
