Did Tom Hiddleston Ruin His Brand By Dating Taylor Swift?

A PR consultant believes that some of the headlines Tom Hiddleston generated last year, particularly his short-lived romance with Taylor Swift, have been unhelpful to his brand. Tom and Taylor went out for three months before calling it quits.

Mark Borkowski told BBC that the Night Manager actor seems to be unaware of how powerful his brand is.

“Some of the recent headlines have been unhelpful. There are events that happen and they’re not thought through properly, and the nature of being caught up with Taylor Swift’s gang and not thinking it through strategically has undone him. Sometimes people don’t recognise the power of their brand, and often you can’t conduct yourself in the way you think you can.”

When news about “Hiddleswift” broke, many became suspicious that it was all a publicity stunt. Some find it difficult to believe that Tom would willingly let himself be photographed clad in a “I ? T.S. [Taylor Swift]” tank top.

It's on… Halloween sorted- Matt will go as a ghost version of Tom Hiddleston in the 'I love TS' crop top! ??? pic.twitter.com/JtN6UGP7Y8

— Capital South Wales ??????? (@CapSouthWales) October 25, 2016

However, in a recent interview with GQ, he finally broke his silence about the relationship and said that it wasn’t fabricated. He further explained that the tank top was given to him by a friend as a joke and that it wasn’t supposed to generate much attention.

The PR consultant considers Tom’s interview as a way to “lessen the damage.”

“I don’t think Tom Hiddleston knew at the time just how big a brand he was. Now he does know that and has to think carefully.This GQ interview is an example of putting the record straight and trying to get a narrative together to try and recover from some poorly judged moments.”

Mark thinks that the interview worked because the Thor: The Dark World actor demonstrated a “beautiful naivety.”

On the other hand, Steven Gaydos, the vice president and executive editor of Variety, also told BBC that Tom’s recent PR mishaps won’t affect his image.

“I don’t think anything he’s done to date has put any serious dent into his career. He’s a fantastic actor doing fantastic work. He has a fanbase and he’s delivering the goods. These are just missteps – somebody doing something that causes chatter. In this case Tom Hiddleston made a speech and people thought it was silly, or he dated a woman and people thought it was a little bogus. He’s not going to be hauled in front of the courts for any of this.”

Tom has two upcoming films this year – Thor: Ragnarok and Kong: Skull Island. Steven believes that the film studios are not concerned about Tom’s PR mishaps. What they worry about is the public’s response to the films’ stories.

He went on to say that things these days can be easily recovered and cited the recent email controversy David Beckham got into. The leaked emails revealed David’s alleged frustration for his failure to receive a Knighthood. For Steven, Tom hasn’t reached the point where his star factor has started to diminish.

In his GQ interview, Tom did not only defend the authenticity of his relationship with Taylor, but also praised the songstress for being “an amazing woman” who’s also “generous and kind and lovely.”

Gossip Cop dismissed the allegations that it was Taylor’s team that constructed and pre-approved Tom’s answers for the interview. Tom is allegedly afraid of crossing Taylor because she’s one of the industry’s most powerful figures. For this reason, he allegedly reached out to her staff and asked their suggestions on what he would say should the magazine ask him about the “Style” hit maker.

The website says that the claim is inaccurate and that Taylor’s team did not influence Tom’s interview in any way.

[Featured Image by KGC-294/STAR MAX/IPx/AP Images]