Images of Guo Meimei, a popular 20 year-old micro-blogger, holding Hermes bags may have boosted the luxury brand's popularity in China, but the endorsement has also negatively affected the French brand's image of elegance and class, National Business Daily reported Tuesday.

Although the publicity increased Hermes sales by 7 to 10 percent over the past three years (World Luxury Association), Guo Meimei's association with the brand has linked it with negative images of "vanity", "suddenly becoming rich" and "showing off wealth", the report said.

Guo Meimei is infamous for flaunting her wealth despite claiming to have a strong connection with the Red Cross Society of China. Her extravagant lifestyle raised concerns about corruption in charities and China's philanthropic organizations, which strongly affected the donation rates and credibility of the organizations.

"If I were the marketing director of the brand, I would feel a sense of crisis as the image of the brand is far away from what it has been known by us, " said Hong Huang, also known as Huang Hung, CEO of China Interactive Media Group and publisher of iLook.