14 DAY TRIAL // British socialite, journalist and, as of late, model Peaches Geldof is currently caught in the middle of a photo scandal that resulted from one night of drunken partying. Star of the latest campaigns from lingerie giant Ultimo, Geldof was dropped as the face and body of the brand as soon as it was confirmed that she was, indeed, the girl featured in the photos that recently leaked online, the Daily Mail informs.
Choosing the heavily tattooed, wild child Peaches for the campaign was an incredibly bold move on behalf of Ultimo, with the company hoping it would never come to regret the decision. Though still young (she’s just 21), Peaches has quite the reputation of a hellraiser on the British party circuit, which is why many said having Ultimo associated with her would not be a great idea. As it happens, chances are high Peaches herself was not aware of the photos that led to the termination of her contract with Ultimo.
“We have been in meetings all morning with regards to the stories that have surfaced over the weekend about Peaches and unfortunately we have no option but to terminate her contract. Miss Ultimo is a brand geared towards a young female audience and as a company we have a social responsibility to ensure we are promoting only positive role models that young women can aspire to. We are in the process of removing Peaches from the website and we are working with Debenhams to remove her visuals form all Miss Ultimo shops and window displays throughout the UK,” a spokesperson for Ultimo says for the Mail of the decision to terminate her £100,000-a-year contract.
Michelle Mone, creator of Miss Ultimo, has also confirmed that any and all collaboration with Peaches Geldof is about to come to an end in light of the recent scandal. To put it simply, she no longer fits the image the brand is trying to sell. “We’ve given this a lot of thought, but there’s a point where a business must stick to its principles and as a brand that targets young women, we feel it is impossible for Peaches to continue to work with us as the face of Miss Ultimo lingerie,” Mone explains.
Though Peaches was not immediately available for comment on this, sources close to her tell the same British publication that she’s positively “devastated” by the news – as if having pictures of herself in a worse for wear state out there wasn’t enough.