I don’t want to sound too much like a consumerist lemming, but if Adele told me to buy something, I would probably but it. If she was trying to sell me an iPod, I would buy a new one. If she endorsed a car, I would definitely look into the details of that car. If she told me about a great new band, I would download the album. It’s something very particular about her – she has something very few celebrities and artists have. What is it? Authenticity? I guess that’s the word, but it just feels like I can take her at her word. I believe she’s an honest person and she conducts herself in the public sphere in an honest way.

All of that should mean that Adele is knee-deep in prospective endorsement/advertising deals, right? Wrong. She licenses her songs for a lot of commercials, TV shows and movies (but nearly every artist does that), but she’s not “the face” of any product. She just does her music. But people have taken notice. Like beauty behemoth L’Oreal. According to The Mail, L’Oreal offered Adele a £12 million to be the newest face of the brand. And Adele walked away!

She was on the verge of ousting Cheryl Cole as the face of L’Oreal, but Adele has reportedly stunned the French cosmetics brand by walking away from a lucrative deal worth £12 million. The 25-year-old Oscar-winner was said to be embroiled in negotiations regarding a potential contract that would’ve seen her join a L’Oreal celebrity stable that already includes Penelope Cruz, Eva Longoria and Jennifer Lopez.

But despite lengthy negotiations Adele reportedly turned her back on the offer, leaving the brand completely in the dark about her reason for backing out.

‘L’Oreal was in negotiations for the deal with Adele and it looked to be happening – but she just changed her mind on it,’ a source told the People. ‘L’Oreal is gobsmacked that she turned down such a huge amount.’

Agreeing a deal would have resulted in Adele replacing current ambassador Cheryl Cole, who signed her own lucrative contract with the brand in 2009. The offer comes after recent claims that the brand were keen to offload the former Girls Aloud star, whose deal is worth a reported £500,000 a year.

Her appointment saw an improvement in sales but Cheryl was swiftly moved to the skincare range because she kept dying her hair. The company are also said to be unimpressed with the enormous rose tattoo she had etched across her buttocks and lower back earlier this year.

Adele, whose personal fortune exceeds £35 million, was said to be in talks with L’Oreal as early as March, with sources at the time admitting they were hopeful about obtaining her signature.

‘It’s going to take a lot of persuasion to get her to agree but right now it looks like she’s close to landing a deal,’ they said.

The singer has previously revealed her disdain with celebrities who ‘sell out’ by putting their names to a string of products for the sake of easy money.

‘I don’t want my name anywhere near another brand,’ she once said. ‘I don’t wanna be tainted or haunted. I think it’s shameful when you sell out.’

News of Adele’s turnabout comes at the end of a successful year for the singer. In February she won an Academy Award for James Bond theme Skyfall, while the MBE was also awarded to her this year for services to music.

[From The Mail]

If the deal had gone through, I think it would have been a really smart deal for both Adele and L’Oreal. L’Oreal would have had a “face” that would appeal to a larger demographic and Adele would have been the recipient of the one of largest beauty contracts ever. Do you admire Adele for staying true to herself and not “selling out”? Eh. Call me a pragmatist or a cynic, but I no longer judge artists for finding creative revenue streams beyond their music. Sometimes I think Beyonce needs to get her head out of her ass, but I don’t really care one way or the other about her deal with Pepsi, you know?

Photos courtesy of WENN.