Again, Zara Phillips-Tindall is not “royal.” She does not have a title nor was she given an HRH. She is a “commoner” in the eyes of the law or royal family or whatever. But yes, she’s the daughter of a princess and the granddaughter of the Queen. She’s also an Olympic athlete and she’s “allowed” to take on all kinds of sponsors. She is a millionaire several times over from her lucrative sponsorships in association with her equestrian career. She was planning to go to Tokyo this year for the Olympics, but… you know, the pandemic. Still, Zara is preparing to restart her equestrian career and training in preparation for the Olympics next year. And she just took on a new sponsorship:
Zara and Mike Tindall risked sparking a public backlash after it emerged they have agreed to act as global ambassadors for a tech firm behind a ‘digital health passport’ app linked to COVID-19. The royal couple, who already have a string of lucrative contracts that have brought in more than £1.1million, stand to make £200,000 from the latest deal with VST Enterprises, branding experts told FEMAIL.
The new deal is just the latest in a long line of sponsorships and brand collaborations for the Queen’s granddaughter, 39, who has been able to use her unique position of being a part of the royal family but not having a title to maximum advantage. The Manchester-based cyber security firm is behind the V-Health Passport, an app which can be scanned to reveal whether the user has tested negative for coronavirus or has antibodies. This information would prove vital to frontline services and could be used by other industries like professional sport to test athletes and fans.
However the success of the concept relies on the roll out of mass testing – something the Government have so far failed to achieve. One brand expert noted Zara and Mike might have seized upon the opportunity to boost their income after inevitably having paid work opportunities such as appearances cancelled due to COVID-19.
I guess I’m feeling meh about this because I don’t really understand it? The idea is that the V-Health passport would be an app, and it could be scanned upon entering a sporting event and the event organizers could see if you’ve had your vaccines or if you have antibodies? That’s what I’m assuming it would be in the best case scenario, in which sporting events buy the software for V-Health Passport and assume that everyone keeps their medical data on this app. In the worst case scenario, this is just profiteering off a global pandemic and Zara and Mike are getting paid to be “ambassadors” for a product which really doesn’t have a real-world function.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red.
Wait, the UK isn’t mass testing? What the hell, I so stupidly thought that was a given, and was being bungled, not that it STILL wasn’t happening. Seriously, utterly flabbergasted.
It’s amazing that members of the royal family can have such lucrative business opportunities offered to them as long as they’re unmelanated, isn’t it? And equally amazing how many support their ‘right’ to make money as long as they’re unmelanated, isn’t it?
Zara’s behaviour towards Meghan was sketchy from the beginning. She’s involved with some seriously shady business ventures and -people, and doesn’t give a damn about the general public: she refused to self-quarantine after returning from a Covid hotspot earlier this year. Another disdainful, horsey, couldn’t give a crap royal.
@andrewsnemesis – all of what you wrote…
This app is really scary from a personal information and health information (PII and PHI) perspective. I work in healthcare comm, and there’s been lots of talk about its problematic implications on many levels.
Yeah, I don’t know. Maybe it’s just my suspicious nature. Our prime minister, every time he comes out to give a press conference, again urges all Australians to download the government’s COVIDSafe app. The idea is that when one is out and about, or even at home with other people, the app will ping to let you (and anyone around you who also has the app) know that someone nearby has tested positive to COVID-19. They say in order for it to work effectively, at least 40% (10 million) of our population of 25 million will need to download it. I think about 7 million have done so. We get daily figures, state by state, of the number of tests carried out, but I don’t think the number is even close to 7 million. Of course, the usual concerns about our data/personal information being used for other purposes etc. have been debated for weeks, with assurances that this won’t and can’t happen. Maybe the Tindalll’s sponsorship is for something similar. Mmmm, my suspicious nature wins.
ITA, AnnaKist. Logically, if someone tests positive for Covid-19, they are supposed to self-isolate, not update an app and then wander around as they please. If there was an app specific to original contact tracing rather than actual future tracking it might feel different, but really to me the goal must be the data gathering itself (perhaps to be merged with data from other sources for a more complete surveillance and tracking system, like the Ring cameras and police surveillance in the US), or the revenue they can make from selling said data to the highest bidder for whatever nefarious purpose.
So, great idea, really wonderful, very ethical, and a totally safe, normal thing for a royal to entangle themselves with. Not like, say, a family-friendly nature documentary highlighting the plight of elephants in which the royal’s fee went to an established elephant non-profit. Now THAT would be tacky and unforgivable!! If I was Zara, I’d be worried that I might start looking like a viable replacement target for deflection-needing royals (or cash-starved papers).
*sigh*
No ANNAKIST, that is not how the COVIDSafe app works at all. It doesn’t ‘ping’ when you’re near someone who is infected. It merely stores data packets ON YOUR PHONE, created through Bluetooth handshakes when your phone is within a certain distance from another phone with the app installed. The data is only stored ON YOUR PHONE temporarily. Then if someone with the app tests positive, they voluntarily register their result on the app. Then government contact tracers like me (i.e. not ASIO) can quickly trace who the positive person has been near in the previous week or two. Thos people then get tested and isolate if need be. Data is then deleted.
Please get your facts straight and read one of the many ABC news stories in the app before spreading your misinformation and conspiracy theories.
Just like to add… the data stored on your phone is only accessible to myself and my colleagues if and when it’s needed for tracing.
In any case, please delete Facebook, twitter, and never use Google if you are really concerned about data. You comment on this site which means you enable cookies and don’t use a VPN for security. Do you use Woolworyhs Rewards or FlyBuy cards? Do you pay with EFTPOS? Do you have an eHealth record? Do you use PayPal? Sign up to any mailing lists lately? Your data is (unfortunately) already out there. That’s the kind of data being bought and sold.
This is not a PR puff piece seeded by the Tindalls; it’s too vague for that, and it’s extremely pointed in referencing all the ways in which Zara has cashed in while being a member of the royal family (albeit not an “officially titled” one).
It is obvious that the Fail immediately wants you to make the connection to Meghan (and Harry) and how Zara is thriving while essentially embodying what the Sussexes hoped to do with their proposed stepping back. It is entirely possible that the Fail wants readers to internalize that it is okay for Zara to do this because she is white and British and it was wrong for Meghan to do this because she is Black and American – that this distinction was the goal of the piece, just another way to put down Meghan. Except, the Fail is never subtle when it comes to racism; even their quietest dog whistle blares with glee. There would have at least been one sentence, one phrase that directly mentions Meghan or hones in on whatever perceived differences there are between the Sussexes and the Tindalls’ situations. With this omission, any regular Fail reader will make the comparison for themselves, except this framing allows the reader to come to their own conclusion, a dangerous allowance when the truth and reason are NOT on your side.
It seems like the British press smells royal blood in the water with the Epstein documentary, the chalet scandal, whatever TF goes on at KP, Omid’s book, the Andrew book, and are inching themselves into less blatantly (or exclusively, at least) anti-Sussex territory so that they are best positioned when the sh*t hits the fan to run the juiciest take and recoup as much of their lost Sussex revenue as they can. And/or, they’re showing the royals that nobody is safe, that they’ll go after Carole, or Zara, or even kitty keen herself and need not even remove the gloves at all for the royals to look bad. Can you imagine what would happen if the gloves were off? I bet Cain can, and is considering what or who to sacrifice next.
More shadiness from the BRF AKA the shadiest oligarchs around. I’ve had no time for Zara since the Sussexes wedding when she behaved so rudely when Bishop Curry spoke. And don’t tell me “oh she was pregnant, she wasn’t comfy”— it had nothing to do with pregnancy. I worked both pregnancies, 10+ hours per day, until the day before delivery, in a job where I would have been fired if I had behaved that way. And many of you on here have done similar.
So, when is the British royalty institution going away again? British people I talk to swear up and down that they don’t care about it at all, that it’s just the older generation that care. I guess we will see if thats true once queen Liz passes.
Anne’s children are really amazingly protected. They can make money off shady projects, get hauled into court for a DUI, sell their royal associations to the highest bidder like that embarrassing milk ad, and no one seems to blink an eye. Also Mike’s checked coat and Zara’s velvets upon velvets — their fashion sense is always, without fail, disastrous. I am going to comment on that because oh how Meghan got dragged for random fashion peccadilloes like imperfect tailoring.