Demi Moore Twips her Lowry cap to Burberry

demi moore via twitpic

In February, the iconic British luxury company Burberry launched a multi-platform social media initiative for its new Burberry The Beat For Men fragrance, embracing MySpace, Faceboook, Bebo and YouTube. But Burberry has just received an additional, and possibly unexpected, social media boost. With 415,469 Twitter followers, actor Demi Moore has the world’s 18th most popular Twitter feed according to Twitterholic. Last night she Tweeted a shot of her new Burberry handbag from the set of Five Killers, which is being shot on France's Côte d’Azur, starring Moore's husband, Ashton Kutcher – and directed by Australian Robert Luketic. No stranger to Twitter himself, Luketic may be creating cinema history by being the first director to Tweet live from a major film shoot.

Of course we don’t know for sure if Moore actually bought the bag, or if it was “gifted” from Burberry – with the express intention of having it turn up in some photograph or other.

It is however worth pointing out that this is the third time in as many months that Moore has mentioned a luxury or fashion brand on Twitter.

The first two occasions followed repeated enquiries from Moore's followers as to the IDs of a dress she had worn to an Oscars party and a pair of sunglasses she has been wearing on the Five Killers shoot.

Moore revealed that they had been designed by Temperley and Salvatore Ferragamo respectively.

According to the Fashionphile blog, the bag photographed on the Five Killers shoot is a Burberry Ruched Ribbon Lowry Tote.

Interestingly, Moore’s latest luxury Tweet follows six days after another expat Australian, journalist Ben Widdicombe, mused via The New York Times' style blog, The Moment, whether paid product placement via Twitter - which he dubs "Twipping" - could be a new Twitter trend.

Noted Widdicombe on March 31st:

“Surely the future, for underemployed fashion types, is paid product placement? It would certainly be a welcome source of income to many struggling writers.....But what about other frock stars with some capital in their name? Perhaps you’d like know the label of the latest horse blanket that Andre Leon Talley draped over his shoulders at the Paris shows. If he Tweets “Hermès, darling” into your electronic ear, it seems only fair that Hermès should tip (let’s call it a “twip”) for the service. Actresses could be “twipped” for dropping the names of their plastic surgeons... And wouldn’t you like to know exactly what new model BlackBerry Naomi Campbell threw at her latest maid?”

Widdicombe fails to take into account those currently employed fashion types, and celebrities, who already are being paid by luxury marketers – via gifted goods or additional financial sweeteners – for promotional services rendered.

Including those who are under so-called ethics contracts at mainstream newspapers.