Rolf Harris Dropped As Face Of British Paints

After 50 years British Paints has dropped Rolf Harris from its future advertising campaigns.

Rolf Harris image by Ros O'Gorman

British Paints, part of the DuluxGroup, insists that the reason to discontinue with Harris as the face of the ads has nothing to do with recent allegations of child abuse against the 83-year veteran entertainer.

Dulux spokesperson Lisa Walters told The Age newspaper that the company decided to discontinue with Harris because “we recognised that this would have limited appeal in the future, given the younger demographic for the British Paints brand”.

Dulux first sponsored a Rolf Harris tour in 1960. He has been the face of the company television commercials for over 30 years. In 1975, Harris introduced the British Paints positioning statement ‘Trust British Paints, sure can”.

Harris was recently arrested as part of the Operation Yewtree investigation. He denied the allegations and was not charged.

British television channel 5 has also confirmed it has dropped two of Harris’ TV shows from its programming. ‘Olive The Ostrich’ and ‘Rolf’s Animal Clinic’ are no longer part of the channel’s schedule.

Tagged as: British Paints, Jimmy Savile, Operation Yewtree, Rolf Harris