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Olivia Jade Giannulli made her first media appearance since her parents’ involvement in the now-infamous college admissions scandal, and while the YouTube sensation might have felt she was favorable in answering for her family’s transgressions, others aren’t so sure Olivia secured a win in the court of public opinion on Tuesday.
Fox News spoke with Eric Schiffer, chairman of Reputation Management Consultants, who lent his professional impression on Olivia's appearance on “Red Table Talk” and said the interview from the lifestyle and beauty influencer, 21, likely left viewers with more questions than answers.
“The world is tired of whiny, spoiled, hypocritical brats who think they can go on a talk show and be able to absolve themselves with one appearance,” Schiffer said of the display following the episode on Facebook Watch. “During a period in which her family was indicted for the biggest scam in American college admission history, Olivia chose to regularly preen on Instagram and for the camera like nothing was happening and her behavior and Lori Loughlin's behavior during court were very similar.”
The image and branding expert compared Olivia's appearance to Loughlin's "signing autographs with smiles" ahead of court hearings.
“That did immense carnage to her brand and to me, this is a shameless move,” said Schiffer of Olivia, adding, "she didn't secure a win with her performance today."
Schiffer said that, to him, Olivia seemed to have memorized a script written by someone else and that her overall mea culpa on the popular roundtable program “didn't ring authentic."
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“This is someone who spent months as an out-of-touch, clueless elite that suddenly got it? No,” Schiffer exclaimed, adding “the public is smarter than that, they know it.”
In a situation where both of Olivia’s parents are doing federal time, Schiffer took exception with her pandering for a “second chance” and offered up a solution to “show [she’s] grown,” as Olivia stated in her interview with host Jada Pinkett-Smith and her family.
Lori Loughlin, center, and fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, right, are accused of arranging a total collective payment of $500,000 to scheme mastermind, William 'Rick' Singer, to get their daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose recruited to USC as athletes on the crew team, despite never having participated in the sport. (Getty)
“What she needed to be doing was to not appear on a show – she needed to be getting herself off of Instagram modeling shots and instead go out and help kids who can't get into college,” he suggested. “Do the work, if you really care about these things and you want to show remorse, show it through action.”
“Olivia's approach to rebuilding her image is to both deny that she's a victim, but at the same time say she's deserving of a second chance but isn't putting in the work,” Schiffer continued. “She just wants to rely upon her entitlement to a second chance. And the public sees her as part of the problem.”
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Pressed on whether he believes Olivia should have stayed silent and waited to speak out given the fact her parents are still carrying out their two-month and five-month prison terms, Schiffer was in agreement. He added that, to him, at no point before Olivia's appearance on “RTT” Tuesday did she exhibit any semblance of remorse for her actions or those of Loughlin, 56, and Giannulli, 57.
“Her words were very careful... She never admitted this herself, she'd throw it on the family and I think there's still a potential risk in going out,” said Schiffer. “So if she was my client, I wouldn't have advised her to do this right now. I would have said, just wait – there's no benefit because advertisers that may have been part of participating with her on the influence or marketing side, which is really where her revenue may be – they're not going to be necessarily influenced to plunk down money behind her brand when both of her parents are still in prison. Not going to happen.”
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During the interview, Olivia said she "didn’t really 100 percent understand what had just happened because there was a lot that, when I was applying, I was not fully aware of what was going on."
However, Schiffer said Olivia is continuing to mislead the public by not copping to the alleged idea she had no clue why her parents were making her and her sister Isabella Rose, 22, take alleged staged rowing images, which were sent to scam mastermind William "Rick" Singer.
“No reasonable person believes that their daughter who is now about to enter college, is going to pose for a picture in the blind without wanting to understand why,” he said. “And it's atrocious that anyone would be willing to continue to offer that.”
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However, Schiffer doesn’t quite believe Olivia’s brand is damaged beyond repair and simply thinks she demonstrated a lack of judgment by choosing to go public now.
“... It's not a threat to the survival of her brand but certainly, it raises questions about her credibility,” said Schiffer. “And to me, that's the kiss of death with any brand. You never want to put yourself in a position where you hurt your credibility. And so I think it was a mixed result for her and one that in many ways will create further blowback to achieve what?”
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“This is not Olivia demonstrating that she got the message,” he added.
A rep for Olivia could not be found. A rep for Loughlin and Giannulli did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
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