Why hasn't Dior canceled the contract with Miss Thuy Tien?

On March 3, Miss Grand International 2021 Nguyen Thuc Thuy Tien announced that she was appointed as Friend of the House of Dior in Vietnam. A day later, she appeared at the fashion house's fall/winter 2025 fashion show in Paris (France) in her new role.

Meanwhile, in Vietnam, information about Thuy Tien’s false vegetable candy advertisement quickly spread, creating a huge wave of indignation. Under posts related to Dior’s fashion event, many comments attacking the beauty queen appeared.

As a "best friend of the brand" Dior in Vietnam, she certainly has a negative impact on the brand during this period. The question is: What will Dior do next with Thuy Tien?

Severity of the incident

Not only is Thuy Tien a Friend of House for the French fashion house, she has also appeared in many media campaigns for other brands. Thus, her excessive advertising incident has the potential to impact many units that have had and are having cooperative relationships.

At the end of 2024, Miss Thuy Tien was appointed as Taiwan Tourism Ambassador, representing the image of this territory in Vietnam. In addition, the luxury jewelry brand Chaumet, technology brand Huawei and beverage company Lavie all appear on her personal page.

During the New York Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2025 held in September 2024, Thuy Tien accompanied the fashion house Tommy Hilfiger. She appeared at the fashion show and also did some fashion photos for this brand.

However, Thuy Tien was not appointed to any official representative position of the American brand. Some opinions said that Tommy Hilfiger was lucky not to hand over the image to her during this period.

Before officially becoming a Friend of the House of Dior, Thuy Tien wore Dior's clothes and attended the fashion house's events for many years. This is a similar strategy to Son Tung M-TP when the male singer became Gucci's first "brand friend" in Vietnam.

Thuy Tien's crisis happened at the same time as the scandal of Korean actor Kim Soo Hyun. Although the nature of the incident is different, the negative impact on the brands represented by these stars is a similar story.

When Kim Soo Hyun's love scandal broke out, Prada was constantly "mentioned" on online platforms. The actor was appointed as Brand Ambassador in December last year.

On March 14, the luxury fashion brand announced that it was ending its partnership with Kim Soo Hyun due to “the seriousness of the incident.” Thus, it can be seen that the severity of the scandal is a factor that fashion houses consider, leading to the decision to preserve or cancel ambassador and representative face contracts for stars.

Previously, Prada also had a precedent of canceling the ambassador contract and removing all images of actress Trinh Sang (China) due to the tax evasion scandal, accusations of surrogacy and child abandonment. Actor Li Yifeng (China) also lost his role as brand ambassador overnight due to the prostitution scandal.

Returning to Thuy Tien's case, this is considered the biggest crisis in her career, and at the same time has a negative impact on the community and society. On March 13, a representative of the Department of Culture and Sports of Ho Chi Minh City said that they are coordinating with agencies, departments and sectors to handle the case of this beauty queen's excessive advertising for vegetable candy products.

However, to make a final decision, a prestigious fashion brand like Dior needs to assess the specific impact on the image of the fashion house. In the case of Prada and Kim Soo Hyun, the brand only officially terminated the contract when it was repeatedly called for action, potentially facing a wave of boycotts in Korea and some Asian countries.

The title "brand best friend"

However, comparing Thuy Tien and Kim Soo Hyun is quite unfair. While Kim Soo Hyun is the global ambassador of Prada, Thuy Tien only holds the position of "brand best friend" of Dior in Vietnam.

Friend of the House's influence is much smaller than Brand Ambassador's. "Brand friends" are understood to be stars who have the opportunity to wear newly launched products, attend events, and participate in the brand's communication campaigns.

Friend of the House can be an influencer, model or singer whose style fits the image that the brand is pursuing. They do not need to have explosive influence, but still have a number of loyal followers, with the potential to bring revenue to the brand.

In particular, the fashion house's companion does not have a close relationship or sign a contract with many binding terms like the ambassador. They do not have to build a personal image associated with the brand's characteristics. Therefore, the level of influence from the star's personal reputation on the brand image is not too great.

Currently, Thuy Tien's image does not appear on Dior's official account like other ambassadors and representatives who attended the recent fall/winter fashion show.

Each individual's "brand buddy" contract also has its own terms, clearly defining rights, responsibilities and obligations. Therefore, even though they hold the same position, stars can participate in different activities, events and carry out different missions.

The possibility of Thuy Tien's contract being terminated therefore needs to be considered based on specific terms and regulations. Furthermore, fashion brands are also business entities, need to balance cost factors, and choose the option with the least loss.

Thus, Dior's decision regarding "brand friend" Thuy Tien remains an open question, unless public pressure continues to increase and directly affects the fashion house's commercial interests.