☕ Last gasp
Is tapping into scandal a good marketing idea?
Marketing Brew <[email protected]>
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Morning Brew promotes its daily newsletter, highlighting a unique Pringles Halloween campaign and featuring a story about influencer Olivia Jade Giannulli's return to the public eye in a Reformation campaign. The campaign references her past involvement in a college admissions scandal. Morning Brew shares this and other stories in its edition.
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582 words · about 2 min to read
October 15, 2026
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Sponsor Logo: Contentful
Today is Thursday. Pringles’s Halloween campaign is offering one brand fan the opportunity of a lifetime: to be laid to rest in a Pringle-can-shaped urn. The winner of the contest will also receive a 200-year supply of Pringles—so here’s hoping they’re chock-full of preservatives.
In today’s edition:
Sorry, not sorry 🫣
A local legend ⚾
Making the most of it🎙️
—Jennimai Nguyen, Alyssa Meyers
BRAND STRATEGY
Get them talking
Two photos of influencer Olivia Jade Giannulli in a Reformation campaign, with a photo on the left of her posing in a grey sweatshirt reading COLLEGE—a reference to the college admissions scandal she was a part of
In 2019, influencer Olivia Jade Giannulli found herself at the center of a now-infamous college admissions scandal. Her parents, Full House actress Lori Loughlin and fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud in the federal case now known as Operation Varsity Blues that revealed a widespread ring of cheating, fraud, and bribery involved in gaining admission to some of the country’s most elite colleges.
When the scandal broke, public opinion and the court of law quickly turned against Olivia Jade, whose admission to the University of Southern California had been bolstered by a fake recruitment to the school’s rowing team, and her family. The popular YouTuber soon unenrolled from the university and took a social media hiatus.
Fast-forward to 2026, and Olivia Jade is back—and the star of Reformation’s fall campaign, called “Good Sport,” which prominently features a crewneck sweatshirt emblazoned with the word “College” and has copy including “We brought her back to campus for a lesson in dressing for sport.”
It’s an unsubtle reference to the scandal that rocked the academic world, and judging from comments on Reformation’s Instagram post introducing the campaign, it has audiences split, with some labeling it iconic, and others decrying it as insensitive.
Time and time again, brands tap into scandal in campaigns to drum up attention and conversation—but not all views are equal, according to Derek Rucker, professor of entrepreneurial studies in marketing at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
“People will sometimes ask, ‘But isn’t any publicity good publicity?’” Rucker said. “The answer to that is definitively no.”
For more on the balancing act for brands that look to balance buzz with controversy, continue reading here.—JN
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Sponsored By Contentful
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SPORTS MARKETING
Less is more
Zip CEO Joe Heck with the Philly Phanatic.
Many major sports sponsorships are designed to generate brand awareness across the country, if not the world.
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