Barnardo's defends plans to pay Made in Chelsea star £3,000 to endorse campaign

17 Feb 2015 News

Barnardo's has defended its decision to pay reality star Binky Felstead £3,000 to endorse a retail campaign after it was widely attacked yesterday in the national press.

Barnardo's has defended its decision to pay reality star Binky Felstead £3,000 to endorse a retail campaign after it was widely attacked yesterday in the national press.

A spokesperson for the children’s charity Barnardo's has claimed that celebrity endorsement campaigns – like the one involving Alexandra “Binky” Felstead – will often generate much more money in stock than they cost.

While admitting to paying the Made in Chelsea star £3,000 to front a retail campaign for them, a Barnardo’s spokesperson said that the charity expected to make that money back 30 times over.

“Campaigns such as these can generate £100,000 worth of stock,” said the spokesperson. “It’s this money that will then go towards our charitable work with children.”

The Sun originally broke the story yesterday, accusing Barnardo’s of paying Felstead £20,000 – a charge that both the charity and Felstead herself strongly denied.

The Sun front page is incorrect. The cost of the campaign is £3,000” said a press release.

“We took a business decision to acquire the support of Alexandra (Binky) Felstead using retail profits to bring the appeal to a new and wider audience. We expected the campaign to increase our retail stock significantly and will be monitoring its impact on our sales.”

The press release also said that Felstead was the first celebrity to ever be approached in a paid capacity by the charity.

Representatives of Binky's have subsequently released a statement, claiming that the reality television personality will not be accepting her fee.

“We can confirm that Binky has agreed to waiver her 3K fee. Her decision to work with Barnardo's was always for good intentions. She was offered this fee to front a campaign. However her intention has always been to give the entire fee back to charity in some way."

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