Depp has remained the face of the fragrance throughout his defamation trial with ex-wife Amber Heard.
The Johnny Depp and Amber Heard defamation trial has had an unexpected side effect.
Per data from Hey Discount, demand for Dior’s Sauvage fragrance, for which Depp is the face, has been booming in the weeks since the trial began. In just one month, Google searches for the cologne increased by 48 percent, going from 823,000 searches in March, to 1.2 million in April, the month the trial began.
With the public keeping up with the trial largely via social media, TikTok views for the fragrance also increased by 63 percent in the weeks after the trial started, reaching 209 million total views and thus becoming the most-viewed cologne on the app.
The uptick in interest means that Sauvage is now the second most popular fragrance in the world in terms of Google search data and social media figures. The cologne is second only to Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s Baccarat Rouge 540, which transcends it in terms of Instagram hashtags, although Sauvage renders nearly double the amount of annual Google searches, at nearly 12 million in the last year.
Depp became the face of the cologne upon its launch in 2015. The fragrance’s name has come under criticism, and Dior has demonstrated unwavering support for Depp throughout his legal battle, a decision that has also generated criticism for the French luxury brand.