Customers call for Iceland to ditch Katona following drug allegations

When Brand Republic contacted Iceland it refused to comment on whether Katona will continue to endorse the brand after The News of the World yesterday (Sunday) ran a front page story including stills of her taking the drug in the bathroom of her home while two of her children were allegedly downstairs.

Online comments on the paper's website show the footage has not been well-received by some Iceland shoppers with one saying: "Never again will I shop in Iceland as long as they are paying for this waste of space to advertise it -- I'd rather throw my money down a grid than spend it in there."

Another said: "She is a waste of space. Iceland should ditch her once and for all or do they like having a junkie mum as the face of their supermarket...Shameful."

Katona, who has a £250,000 deal with Iceland, is a former Atomic Kitten singer now famous due to reality TV shows for MTV such as 'Kerry Katona: Crazy in Love', 'Kerry Katona: What’s the Problem?', and 'Whole Again', which followed her £15,000 spending spree to regain her pre-children figure.

The fly-on-the-wall shows have become car-crash television, documenting the former Atomic Kitten star's problems with bankruptcy, depression and her marriage.

Last October she denied using illegal drugs after a headline-grabbing appearance on ITV1's This Morning in which she slurred her words and behaved erratically.

At the time she blamed medication for depression and hit out at presenter Philip Schofield for insinuating she was under the influence.

Iceland responded by saying it was standing by Katona and working with her to make sure that she had a "clean bill of health and is able to continue fulfilling her duties as a mum and with Iceland". It was reported to have sent her for sobriety tests.

A week later Katona admitted she had a problem with alcohol but maintained it was the prescribed medication that had made her slur on This Morning.

This article was first published on brandrepublic.com