Meghan Markle renamed her lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, to As Ever before the discharge of her Netflix series “With Love, Meghan.”
This modification has caused critics to call the shift rushed, citing trademark issues and repurposed materials. PR experts also argue it could be a strategic move to keep up intrigue.
The As Ever website leaked before Meghan Markle’s announcement, revealing a broader product range, including food, home goods, and skincare.
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Meghan Markle’s As Ever Rebrand Sparks Criticism
Meghan’s rebrand of American Riviera Orchard to As Ever has sparked criticism, with experts calling it a rushed effort using repurposed promotional material from last 12 months.
A communications expert dissected the royal’s move, telling the Each day Mail, “You would not catch Kim Kardashian doing this,” and suggesting the last-minute name change “telegraphed inauthenticity.”
One other expert speculated that the abrupt change was attributable to a trademark dispute, forcing Meghan to pivot and reuse existing promotional materials.
They said, “It appears to have been a complete rush – despite what Meghan says about As Ever going back to 2022.”
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The expert added: “They’ve clearly had to desert American Riviera Orchard but recycle all of the promos attributable to the trademark dispute. The leak happened yesterday and you’ve got to wonder if her hand was forced.”
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Is The Duchess’s Ever-Changing Brand ‘All By Design’?
Meanwhile, PR expert Mark Borkowski suggests Meghan’s frequent rebranding is not an indication of confusion but a calculated technique to generate publicity.
Borkowski explained: “This is not an identity crisis. It is a business model. Meghan is not floundering; she’s fluctuating on purpose. The perpetual reinvention, the strategic vagueness—it’s all by design.”
He continued: “No, it is a TV show. No, it’s jam. No, it is a vague, atmospheric brand called As Ever. The more unpredictable she is, the harder it’s to take her down. She’s not attempting to be Goop; she’s attempting to be a mystery. The product she’s selling? Infinite curiosity about Meghan Markle. So possibly she’s not losing control of her narrative—possibly we’re.”
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Speculating what Meghan could do next, Borkowski asked, “A sustainably mindful butter knife line? A sustainably sourced candle that smells like ‘reinvention’? A pop-up experience where guests can personally witness Meghan not answering direct questions? Whatever it’s, expect one other name change when this one inevitably runs its course.”
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Meghan Markle’s As Ever Website Was Discovered Before Official Launch
Before Meghan’s official announcement, online detectives had already uncovered a Shopify site for her As Ever brand, featuring an unseen photo of the royal cooking.
The image, believed to be from last 12 months’s American Riviera Orchard (ARO) promo, shows Meghan in the identical white outfit and kitchen as her previous teaser video.
A final-minute branding shift appears to have occurred, as the unique Shopify URL (as-ever-store.myshopify.com) now redirects to her latest website, asever.com.
The initial cooking photo was replaced with a touching image of Meghan holding hands along with her daughter, Lilibet, of their Montecito garden.
Meghan Markle Hints At Reason For Renaming Her Lifestyle Brand
Meghan’s luxury brand made a splash last 12 months when she gifted limited-edition jam jars to her celebrity friends, who eagerly shared them online.
Nevertheless, the brand soon faced obstacles, leading to a whole transformation. Its original branding, including the brand, has been scrapped in favor of a minimalist design featuring a palm tree and two hummingbirds.
In her video introducing As Ever, Meghan subtly acknowledged the trademark challenges that led to her pivot away from American Riviera Orchard, revealing that the brand name had initially been inspired by Santa Barbara’s nickname, the American Riviera.
Nevertheless, she admitted that the name became restrictive, because it tied the brand too closely to the region’s locally made goods.
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“Last 12 months, I had thought, ‘American Riviera,’ that appears like such an excellent name. It’s my neighborhood; it is a nickname for Santa Barbara, but it surely limited me to things that were just manufactured and grown on this area,” she explained.
The Royal’s As Ever Brand Includes Food And Luxury Lifestyle Products
Still speaking on her brand rename, Meghan brought up her old blog, The Tig, noting that As Ever can be her way of sharing the things she loved talking about and doing prior to now along with her fans.
She said: “As Ever essentially means as it is often been, and for those who’ve followed me since 2014 with The Tig, you recognize I’ve all the time loved cooking and crafting and gardening — that is what I do. And I have never been capable of share it with you in the identical way for the past few years, but now I can, in order things are beginning to trickle on the market, I wanted you to listen to it from me first.”
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Trademark filings obtained by the Each day Mail revealed that As Ever will expand beyond food into luxury home and lifestyle products, including table linens, skincare, haircare, scented candles, and even gardening tools like pruning shears and trowels.
Home essentials equivalent to cutlery, knives, and tableware are also expected to be a part of the gathering.
