Reality television star Kim Kardashian has taken a lot of flak for her 72-day marriage to New Jersey Nets player Kris Humphries.
But she probably never dreamed that she’d be bested by a dog.
In what is perhaps the ultimate humiliation, Kardashian has been swapped out for a French bulldog in a commercial for Skechers GORun shoes that will air during this year’s Super Bowl, USA Today reports.
The reality star appeared in a steamy commercial for Skechers Shape-Up shoes during last year’s Super Bowl, but the Skechers commercial airing during this year’s game will instead feature a dog. In the spot, the dog will wear Sketchers GORun shoes and will race against a pack of greyhounds at Tucson Greyhound Park, according to the newspaper.
(Said steamy ad is below. Post continues below steamy ad.)
But Skechers insists that the absence of Kardashian in the company’s new Super Bowl commercial is not due to backlash against the reality star over her hugely hyped wedding and quickie divorce. Leonard Armato, president of Skechers Fitness, told USA Today that "Kim got us more attention than we ever dreamed. We have to establish Skechers as more than a lifestyle company."
Armato told USA Today that while Kardashian’s contract with Sketchers expired at the end of 2011, she had a big influence on the brand’s popularity, and attributes much of the 400 percent increase in fans on the Skechers Facebook page after the Super Bowl to her star power.
Sketchers on Tuesday also announced that Mark Cuban, owner of both Landmark Theaters and the Dallas Mavericks, would make a cameo in the Skechers Super Bowl spot as GORun’s new spokesman.
Cuban told USA Today that while he’s no Kim Kardashian, “one of the things I do know is high technology and how to use it.”