8:10 am, May 30, 2023
All adverts featuring ITV presenter Phillip Schofield for used car buying platform WeBuyAnyCar have been removed from the firm’s YouTube channel.
The presenter – who has resigned after admitting having an affair with a younger worker at ITV’s This Morning – was dropped by the used car buying service late last year.
The TV presenter was reportedly paid £1m a year to front the used car buying service’s advertising.
TV adverts from the six-year relationship between the star and the car buying platform – owned by the secretive Constellation Automotive Group – encouraged people to be ‘more like Phil’.
Schofield, 61, was dropped by WeBuyAnyCar last October around the time he and his co-host, Holly Willoughby, jumped the 14-hour queue to see the Queen lying in state.
All adverts featuring Schofield have since been removed from the WeBuyAnyCar YouTube channel. The firm has not confirmed when this took place, or why, despite requests for comment from Car Dealer.
Previous national press reports said Schofield’s face has also been removed from the used car buying service’s social media pages.
WeBuyAnyCar adverts portrayed Schofield as ‘the most loved man in Britain’ with one ad showing his face on cakes and a statue unveiled of him in an office. Some of the adverts are still available on other channels on YouTube, such as the one below.
He was replaced as a brand ambassador by social media influencer Mufusa in October.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGdAdqAnqXM
At the weekend, Vertu Motors boss Robert Forrester said he had been warned of aligning his car dealership brands with any one celebrity in his marketing.
On social media, he said: ‘The pitfalls of celebrity marketing endorsement are quite clear for our sector.
‘Arnold Clark sponsored @thismorning and obviously WBAC were closely connected with @Schofe (Phillip Schofield). Liz, our CMO, always warned me against it!’
Schofield resigned from ITV on Friday and was dropped by his talent agency YMU after admitting to an ‘unwise, but not illegal’ affair.
Following Schofield’s resignation, some former This Morning employees have since come out to criticise the broadcaster.
WeBuyAnyCar has been contacted for comment.
