Millions of people tuned in to watch the 76th Golden Globe Awards to see if their favorite actor or actress would bring the coveted award home, while others tuned in simply to see who was best and worst dressed. Surprisingly, the winner of the entire show this year was not up for any nominations.
Fiji Water was a sponsor of the show and hired models to walk around with trays of bottled water during the red carpet to increase brand awareness. Kelleth Cuthbert, a Canadian model otherwise known as #fijiwatergirl, walked amongst celebrities on the red carpet and proceeded to photobomb just about everyone at the show.
A photographer by the name of Stefanie Keenan was working for Getty Images Studio, Fiji Water’s commissioned-content brand, with the sole purpose of capturing photos to “elevate” Fiji Water. Cuthbert stood in the background of just about every celebrity on the red carpet, and with the help of the internet, there was a ton of engagement surrounding the bottled water brand.
It is unclear whether this marketing stunt has impacted sales yet, but it did create buzz. It has been noted that just before the show, Cuthbert started the night with a little over 50k followers. Since Sunday, she has reached just over 227k followers and has appeared on the Late Late Show with James Corden, E! News, and in Glamour magazine.
While most reactions were positive, some were not. Jamie Lee Curtis, for instance, was not a fan. Others raised the point that while this may have been a light-hearted attempt to generate some memes and attention, bottled water is hurting the planet. In fact, plastic bottles are the fourth most common item plaguing our waterways.
The 61st Annual Grammy Awards is the next highly regarded show coming up on February 10, 2019. It will be interesting to see if any brands will be thinking outside of the box to steal the show.