Axelle Despiegelaere cheered her favorite Belgian soccer team on at the 2014 World Cup in Rio on June 22 and photos of the blonde beauty decked out in Belgian colors went viral. So, L’Oreal moved quickly to sign her for an advertisement. But the relationship has now ended, after a photo of her smiling with a dead African animal surfaced.
ABC News reported during the week that L’Oreal Professionnel got in touch with her and she shared her excitement on Facebook. L’Oreal told ABC News that Despiegelaere was signed for a social media campaign in Belgium, not to join their roster of official spokespersons.
After the story got out, Business Insider’s Aly Weisman posted a picture that Despiegelaere had published on Facebook on July 1 - the day Belgium beat the U.S. in the tournament - in which she posed with a dead animal. “Ready to hunt Americans today,” Despiegelaere wrote in the caption.
@Loreal @LOrealParisUSA what do you think of this post by your new model Axelle Despiegelaere? pic.twitter.com/Xn4lZrckLs
— Aly Weisman (@AlyWeisman) July 10, 2014
image via Twitter from Aly Weistman
According to UPI, a L’Oreal spokesman told The Independent that they were aware of Despiegelaere’s photo. However, the company said it didn’t have anything to do with Despiegelaere losing her contract. She was only signed to appear in a social media video, which has been posted on YouTube.