Everyone from Beyonce, Kim Kardashian to David Beckham has used their personal brand to launch a celebrity fragrance. Yesterday, reality star Tanya Bardsey confused her 578k followers when she shared an Instagram post promoting her much-mocked new fragrance called Chien (French for ‘dog’).
The former Real Housewives of Cheshire star’s social post sparked ridicule, not only for the less than flattering name, but for stating that Chien was a ‘fragrant composition made from my own personal scent’. Surely someone should have told Tanya that Chien is the masculine French for ‘dog’ and who would want to smell her body odour?
Tanya let fans in on the answer via a follow-up social post today. Rather than jumping on the celebrity fragrance bandwagon, the ‘dogs’ and scent that she was promoting was for a very important cause – Search Dog Heroes.
Tanya’s second post features a dog called Lexi who is the real star of the fragrance campaign as a future Search Dog hero ready to aid police and search teams when a vulnerable person goes missing.
Search Dog Heroes is run in partnership by Missing People and Lowland Rescue, made possible thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery with an award of £1million from its Dream Fund.
The Search Dog Heroes project focuses particularly on families or carers of those living with dementia, learning disabilities or mental health problems – people more likely to be reported missing and most at risk whilst away. Projects like these are vital as there are currently 900,000 people with dementia in the UK and this number is expected to sharply rise in the near future.1
Family members or carers of a vulnerable person are encouraged to capture their scent in case the worst could happen using this guide on the Missing People website.
Outside of the project, People’s Postcode Lottery is one of Missing People’s most supportive funders, having raised over £8.6 million for the charity since 2009.
Tanya Bardsley said: ‘I was delighted to show my support for Search Dog Heroes by sending up myself and the serious world of celebrity scents. I hope that Chien can raise the profile of these amazing pups and the work they will do for these inspirational charities”.
Joseph Ray, Social Investment and Innovation Advisor at People’s Postcode Lottery, said: “I’m delighted money raised by our players Is supporting Search Dog Heroes, which means missing vulnerable people can be found quickly and brought back home to loved ones safely.
“Collecting and storing personal scent for vulnerable individuals is so important – despite all the technology and innovation in the world there is no device more effective in helping to find a missing person than a dog’s nose.”
Missing People’s Director of Policy and Development Susannah Drury said: “Thanks to Tanya, we’ve brought the importance of personal scent to so many people’s attention. However, these dogs need specialist training, and we are immensely grateful to players of People’s Postcode Lottery for providing the support and funding to help us find vulnerable missing people.”
