Taylor Swift is not having a very good day today. In addition to being accused of racism with her new video "Shake It Off," the poor sales of her perfume "Wonderstruck" have been blamed for causing the 28.4 percent loss reported by cosmetics and fragrance company Elizabeth Arden, Inc. It's not just her perfume that's been stalling on the market, however: Justin Bieber's "Someday" has too undersold, along with most other celebrity-branded perfumes from the company.
Elizabeth Arden's 28.4 percent quarterly loss is the biggest in its more than 100-year history, and this downward trend is expected to continue for the next six months. According to The Guardian, the company's net sales fell from $267.6 million to $191.7 million in just the span of a year, with total sales falling 13.4 percent. Half of the total sales decline has been attributed to the fall in popularity of celebrity fragrances.
Some other pop stars that have endorsed perfumes for Elizabeth Arden include Britney Spears, Usher, and Mariah Carey. The Chicago Tribune points out that Elizabeth Arden had five of the top 10 celebrity-branded perfumes in the United States last year, but that the market for these perfumes has been in decline.
The shrinking market can be heavily attributed to the economic status of teens and young adults, the key demographic for celebrity-branded perfumes, which have been suffering from high unemployment in recent years and therefore have less disposable income to spend on items such as perfume and cosmetics. Or maybe people are afraid that if they smell like Justin Bieber, they'll start acting like him too.
