Starlets as Branding Tools, Take Two: Lady Gaga for Polaroid

Hot on the heels of Lindsay Lohan's epic "creative advisor" fail for Ungaro comes word that Lady Gaga is now a creative director of Polaroid. Frankly, we have yet to be convinced Gaga can sell anything other than, well, Gaga.

Yes, there's some veiled logic behind the collaboration (other than the fact that Lady Gaga has penned a rather famous song called "Paparazzi"): Gaga has long been a "rabid Polaroid fan," according to vice president Jon Pollock, and there's always been a link between Polaroid cameras and the fashion industry, thanks to years of model casting calls. In addition to promoting Polaroid all over the place, she'll be working to create new cameras and what-not for the company, ideally for Christmas 2010.

Says Gaga in a statement: "The Haus of Gaga has been developing prototypes in the vein of fashion/technology/photography innovation -- blending the iconic history of Polaroid and instant film with the digital era -- and we are excited to collaborate on these ventures with the Polaroid brand." She laughingly adds that she finally has "a real job," which frankly bears troubling echoes of Lindsay Lohan's glee upon first seeing her Ungaro office.

Now, Lady Gaga is without a doubt a force to be reckoned with in terms of creating spectacle and buzz. However, what she's best at is exactly what she's always preached: being herself. What makes her most engaging is how she exists completely outside the market -- rarely wearing well-known designers or products and instead recruiting artists to create on-of-a-kind headpieces or sporting platforms straight of Alexander McQueen's 2010 runway -- not promoting household brands (whether they're iconic or not).

And, lest we not forget, she's done this before! She joined forces with Dr. Dre and Monster Cable to create "Heartbeats," some little in-ear headphones that, apparently, could double as jewelry. The collaboration was not wholly well-received, and -- as far as we know -- hasn't exactly sold-out worldwide.

To be clear: We're big Gaga fans. She's one of the most creative talents we've seen in a long while. But at this point, we're skeptical of these types of collaborations on the whole.

Contact Us