This post is part of a series on celebrity spokespeople who ended up doing serious harm to the brands they were hired to promote, or vice versa. See our list of the 20 top spokesperson fiascos.

Back in 2005, for Sarah Jessica Parker's 40th birthday, The Gap (NYSE: GPS) got her something brand new: a pink slip. Then they hired a 17-year-old to replace her.

Now, I've never been a fan of Sex in the City, the hugely popular TV show where Parker starred as gossip columnist Carrie Bradshow. Even though I spent my late 20s as a single woman in New York City, I spent my 30s -- when the show was hot -- as a staid married woman, with a baby either in tow or on the way most of the time. In fact, the few times I watched the steamy show, I found it so embarrassing I had to turn it off.

However, Sarah Jessica Parker and I are just a year apart in age. So it still makes my blood boil to think that the Gap (they were lucky to have her!) replaced her with 17-year-old singer (Joss Stone), right after her 40th birthday in March, 2005.

But who got the last laugh? It certainly isn't The Gap, which has seen its stock price fall nearly 25% in the past three years to a current $15.90 a share.