Mrs Murray makes a mint hawking brands
Pimm’s, coffee and a bank...is there anything shameless Judy won’t promote?
WITH two sons competing at Wimbledon, you’d think Judy Murray would have her hands full giving them support.
But she also seems to be keen to cheer on three product brands, sparking accusations she is cashing in on her children’s success.
Mrs Murray is an ambassador for Lavazza coffee, HSBC and Pimm’s and has been actively promoting them during the championships.
The 56-year-old, whose sons Andy and Jamie are both competing, was spotted handing out the Italian coffee to fans in the queue yesterday morning.
She has also been seen in HSBCbranded clothing and speaking on behalf of the high street bank during a coaching session.
Twitter users have already complained about Mrs Murray’s endorsement of Pimm’s, saying they have been bombarded with adverts featuring her promoting the tipple on their timelines.
Some have even blocked the commercial, in which she appears to get cross about the amount of mint leaf ‘foliage’ in her Pimm’s.
Jonathan Beeston posted: ‘ How many times do I have to flag a Pimm’s ad featuring Judy Murray as offensive before I stop seeing it?’
Andrew Roberts wrote: ‘I’m sick to death of seeing that Judy Murray Pimm’s advert every few tweets. I’m going to have to block her in a minute!’ Mrs Murray has been posting about her endorsements to her 169,000 Twitter followers.
Yesterday, the tennis coach posted a photograph of a cup of Lavazza coffee with her face imprinted on it. As part of regular tweets about Pimm’s, she wrote on Sunday: ‘Big day today. I’ve landed myself a new job. #PimmsOClock.’
She published a photograph of herself holding a Pimm’s business card, and appeared to be sporting dark, defined eyebrows. Cosmetic brand Benefit commented on her look and she later replied saying she loved their brow product. It is unclear if she is also an ambassador for the firm.
Pimm’s has appointed Mrs Murray as its ‘chief foliage officer’ after she last year complained of a mint ‘overdose’ in her tipple. She has made a spoof ‘training’ video for bar staff, explaining how to make the perfect drink.
In it, she says: ‘My recipe for a perfect summer’s afternoon is a delicious glass of Pimm’s – and some great tennis. Jamie and Andy can take care of the tennis bit – I’ll be focusing on making sure we get the right amount of mint in our Pimm’s.’
Two years ago it was reported that Mrs Murray’s lucrative sponsorship deals were netting her at least £70,000 over Wimbledon fortnight. At the time she had deals with sports brand Head, Robinsons squash and Lavazza. It was reported that her ambassadorship for the coffee company alone could be worth around £25,000.
The Robinsons deal, worth around £50,000, is believed to have been brokered by the leading sports agency IMG, who she is still signed with.
Mrs Murray has become a brand in her own right after appearing on hit television shows such as Strictly Come Dancing. She has also spoken of her desire to appear on the BBC’s Great British Bake Off.
She said this week: ‘I think that Bake Off would be quite fun, yeah, anything that is trying something new and good fun.’
Son Andy recently landed a sponsorship deal with Jaguar, which is believed be worth in the region of £1.5million. In 2014, he signed a four-year kit deal with the US-based sportswear company Under Armour believed to be worth in the region of £15million.
Mrs Murray yesterday also weighed in on the debate surrounding the controversial Nike tennis dress that has a habit of riding up.
She said any clothing that is not functional is ‘ distracting for the players’. On Tuesday the dress was blamed for British wildcard Katie Swan’s defeat.
Mrs Murray said: ‘ I’m sure that Nike will be taking steps to address it. Because anything that is not functional proves distracting to the players and that’s not in anybody’s interests. I know from experience of watching the boys, you have to get the clothing right, the footwear right because these are partly the tools of your trade, so it has to be functional for what it is that you need to do.’
‘I’m going to block her posts’