Meghan Markle is all set to make her Netflix comeback next week with a new lifestyle series that paints a rosy picture of domestic life.
As per reports and speculations, being cut off from the royal purse has pushed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to develop new sources of income. The couple have experimented with several ventures over the years.
After Harry’s flop 2024 sporting series about polo, the couple were in tense. Now, critics say there’s a lot riding on “With Love, Meghan.”
Marketing experts believe the former Suits star’s striving to reinvent her image in a “safer,” more traditional mould as she faces intense criticism and financial pressure.
Since marrying into Britain’s royal family in 2018, Markle has faced particularly heavy scrutiny, which increased with the couple’s dramatic split from the royals and their move to California in 2020.
Pauline MacLaran, a professor of marketing at Royal Holloway University of London, told AFP, Markle may have been seeking out a “safer route” in the latest series, which harks back to her time running lifestyle blog The Tig from 2014-17.
“She tried a few different things but hasn’t been successful, so she’s trying again with a different approach,” said the expert.
According to MacLaran, the shift may also reflect changes in Markle’s personal life, adding: “We have to remember she is at a stage of her life with two kids, it might have changed her perspective on many things, it might have changed her.
Harry and Meghan’s daughter Lilibet, in the video announcing the “As Ever” rebrand, makes an appearance in the background. The Duke appears briefly in the trailer, in which Markle says: “We’re not in the pursuit of perfection. We’re in the pursuit of joy.”
However, Finola Kerrigan, a professor of marketing at the University of Birmingham, argued: “Maybe when the political tone was more progressive it was fine to express an opinion. Now, things have changed.”
“I don’t think that Meghan has the support mechanism to take on that role and whatever she does, she’s criticised.”
Earlier this year, Markle renamed her 2024 “American Riviera Orchard” lifestyle brand, calling it “As Ever,” which has a website selling products such as jams and tableware.
Sharing her knowledge about the move, Kerrigan said that “brands evolve with the person,” arguing that Markle “hasn’t betrayed who she is.
The expert went on claiming that Meghan is adapting in a “shifting world.”
