The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2025
A body found in d4vd's Tesla emptied Crocs and Hollister's campaign within days
Five days after police found a body in his Tesla, Crocs and Hollister scrubbed d4vd from the 'Dream Drop' campaign they had just launched.
Crocs · Hollister · 2025-09-10
What happened
d4vd, born David Anthony Burke, was a rising Gen-Z singer-songwriter with hit songs like 'Romantic Homicide' and 'Here With Me'. In early September 2025, Crocs and Hollister launched a joint 'Dream Drop' campaign built around him — a co-branded push that put the artist at the center of both brands' marketing for that week.
On September 8, 2025, Los Angeles police found a body in the trunk of a Tesla at a Hollywood tow lot; the car was registered to Burke. No arrest was announced and no charges were filed at the time — but the discovery was national news within hours.
The brands did not wait for any finding. Crocs and Hollister removed the campaign materials featuring d4vd within days and issued a joint statement saying he was no longer part of the 'Dream Drop' campaign, reported by Footwear News on September 10. The artists' side said he would continue his scheduled tour.
The campaign had launched only days earlier, with coordinated content, product placement and media placements built entirely around d4vd's image. With the artist removed, the campaign was effectively discarded rather than rescheduled.
Why it happened
- The campaign had no distance from the artist: a joint Crocs-Hollister push built around d4vd could not survive a grisly police discovery involving his car — the association was the product.
- No verdict was needed: there was no arrest, but the brands moved anyway — the headline was the fact that mattered to advertisers.
- Speed of exit was itself the point: pulling within days protected the brands' image but sank the launch — planned content, placements and a week of momentum were abandoned.
The lesson
Five days after launch, a police discovery emptied the campaign: Crocs and Hollister had no distance between the singer's image and their own. Co-marketing a person means inheriting their headlines.
Aftermath
Crocs and Hollister confirmed to Footwear News that d4vd was no longer part of their joint 'Dream Drop' campaign, and removed the campaign materials featuring him, within days of the September 8 discovery of a body in a Tesla registered to him at a Hollywood tow lot. No arrest or charge had been announced at the time of the pull. The campaign, launched days earlier around the artist, was abandoned rather than rescheduled; d4vd's camp said his scheduled tour would continue.
Sources
- NY Post — Crocs, Hollister drop singer d4vd after rotting corpse found inside his Tesla
- Newsweek — d4vd dropped from Crocs, Hollister campaign after dead body discovered in his Tesla
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