Kim Kardashian won't be featured in Skechers' upcoming Super Bowl ad — that honor goes to a French bulldog — but that doesn't mean she's been replaced.
Earlier this week, reports surfaced that the shoe manufacturer had, uh, booted Kardashian as their spokesperson — she appeared in a steamy spot for Skechers' Shape-Up shoe that aired during Super Bowl XLV — a move their president claimed was meant "to establish Skechers as more than a lifestyle company."
Of course, those reports also spawned a series of headlines suggesting Kardashian had been replaced in favor of the French bulldog (with some speculating her brief marriage to Kris Humphries was behind the decision). But according to Skechers' CEO Robert Greenberg, that simply wasn't the case. Instead (and less salaciously), the new commercial had everything to do with Kardashian's contract with the company coming to an end.
"Kim Kardashian has had a tremendously positive effect on the Skechers brand ... she played a big part in Skechers moving up last year from 388 to 99 among companies with the highest brand trust," Greenberg said in a statement. "While Kim's contract with Skechers simply came to an end at the end of last year, we continue to have a great relationship with her ... to say that she was 'dropped' or 'replaced' is misleading and untrue. Skechers has enjoyed and continues to enjoy the relationship with Kim, and in fact we continue to discuss ways that we may work together in the future."
Instead of Kardashian, this year's Skechers Super Bowl spot features a French bulldog who dons the company's new GOrun sneakers and races a pack of greyhounds. Strangely, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban reportedly also makes a cameo.
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