# Celebrities doing advertisements--your thoughts? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 23, 2005, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583 "2005-02-23T20:06:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583/21 "2005-02-24T14:35:40Z")
**U2** is a great band with a lot of artisitic vision, but for all their occasional posturing and protesting to the contrary, they’ve always been a very commercial band. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s a very different image from that of **Dylan** , who was the epitome of the 60’s anti-establishment ethos, and who has always (with justification) defended every move, from supposed plagiarism to a radical change in style that alienated many fans, as being motivated by art. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583/22 "2005-02-24T17:03:32Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Crowe’s a prick. Agreed. However, the DeNiro ad was just plain sad. My first thought was that he must be in dire straits financially. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583/23 "2005-02-24T17:13:00Z")
I think the **U2** issue is also the fact that it’s Apple, which is almsot the anti-sellout. “We didn’t sell out to pimp M$'s latest, greatest Windows, we went for the underdogs, fighting for their share in the market!” Although in the case of that commercial (sicne it was for the iPod and/or iTunes) Apple actually isn’t the underdog. Still, when artists “sell out” to smaller, quirky companies, people tend to see it as good, whereas if it’s for a larger compnay, it’s bad. Go figure. If I was an actor/musician, I’d sell out everyday in everyway. I don’t know how long my career would last, and I’d like to save up as much money as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583/24 "2005-02-24T17:30:44Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > I think the **U2** issue is also the fact that it’s Apple, which is almsot the anti-sellout. > > “We didn’t sell out to pimp M$'s latest, greatest Windows, we went for the underdogs, fighting for their share in the market!” > > Although in the case of that commercial (sicne it was for the iPod and/or iTunes) Apple actually isn’t the underdog. Still, when artists “sell out” to smaller, quirky companies, people tend to see it as good, whereas if it’s for a larger compnay, it’s bad. Go figure. Plus, iPod and iTunes are distribution media for _music_, which musicians have a legitimate interest in promoting for their own sake, if they believe they will increase the distribution of their music or improve the listening experience of their fans. I doubt anyone would have looked askance if Dylan had done an iPod ad. > [@](#): > > If I was an actor/musician, I’d sell out everyday in everyway. I don’t know how long my career would last, and I’d like to save up as much money as possible. Hey, if that’s what you want to do. But traditionally, artists have held themselves to a different standard. You can argue whether it’s a “higher” standard, a reasonable standard, or even a good one, but the fact remains that many artists resist the blatant commercialization of their work. Enough do so, that to my eyes, an actor appearing in a commercial is tantamout to his publically declaring, “I do not consider myself an artist, and I do not aspire to be one. I am a workhorse and will perform any role for sufficient renumeration and without regard to artistic merit.” Which is fine. That’s a perfectly valid work-ethic for an actor to have, and quite a valuable one, especially when starting out. But it confuses and saddens me when I can clearly see that the actor is so much more. ---
**Author:** ![threeorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@threeorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threeorange)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583/25 "2005-02-25T11:16:42Z")
A few years back, Minute Maid orange juice used Robert Loggia in a commercial that seemed to satirize the whole idea of celebrity endorsement. It featured a young kid who refused to believe his parents when they told him that Minute Maid was delicious and nutritious. So finally, the father asks “well, who would you believe?” The kid answers “I don’t know…Robert Loggia?” In walks Loggia, who confirms what the parents had been telling the boy, and the boy happily downs the juice. The commercial didn’t run for long; I suspect a lot of people didn’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583/26 "2005-02-25T15:37:13Z")
Bob Dylan in a Victoria’s Secret ad? That’s not selling out, that’s just scary! Now I’m hearing that mumbling wheezy voice going, “they make me feel so pretty!” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583/27 "2005-02-25T16:34:52Z")
Those Dennis Franz ads where he said he ‘didn’t do commericals’ were just annoying. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583/28 "2005-02-25T16:41:46Z")
The only thing that surprised me about the De Niro Amex ad is that they got him to deliver the turgid lines that had been written. The script is an embarassment - “my East, my West Side”…“My heartbreak, my heartbeat”…that is all I recall through all the gagging. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583/29 "2005-02-25T16:43:26Z")
“The Bronx is up and the Battery’s down” works better. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583/30 "2005-02-25T18:10:22Z")
Actors’ popularity doesn’t make their opinions any more valid, as far as I’m concerned. When actors do TV commercials, it doesn’t really matter to me whether they believe in the product or are “selling out”–it doesn’t change my opinion of the product either way. It’s just like actors who push their political agendas. Who cares? Yes, you’re cute and/or you act well. That doesn’t make your political views any more insightful or important than anyone else’s. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583/31 "2005-02-25T20:03:28Z")
The only thing I dislike about celebrities doing ads is when it’s voiceover work and I can’t figure out who it is. Because I’m anal that way. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583/32 "2005-02-25T20:24:16Z")
> [@](#): > > How about drawing the line between roles that give you the opportunity to make some sort of meaningful artistic/creative statement and those that don’t? Or between those roles that give people entertainment and enjoyment and those that annoy them with sales pitches? If I were Gene Hackman. I’d feel a lot more need to apologize for making _Welcome to Moosewood_ than I would for doing voiceovers on Lowe’s commericals. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583/33 "2005-02-25T20:27:18Z")
> [@](#): > > How about drawing the line between roles that give you the opportunity to make some sort of meaningful artistic/creative statement and those that don’t? Or between those roles that give people entertainment and enjoyment and those that annoy them with sales pitches? If I were Gene Hackman, I’d feel a lot more need to apologize for making _Welcome to Moosewood_ than I would for doing voiceovers on Lowe’s commercials. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583/34 "2005-02-25T20:46:40Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Crowe would have a point if a celebrity swore to never do commercials and ended up on Japanese TV hawking jellied eel nuggets or some such thing. Ya know, so many rice crackers _claim_ to be low-cal, but only Heshigawa Rice Crackers make your _interiors_ go _bananas_. What did I do to deserve this? Oh, right… ---
**Author:** ![Asteroide](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@Asteroide](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asteroide)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583/35 "2005-02-25T22:13:53Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > If I were Gene Hackman, I’d feel a lot more need to apologize for making _Welcome to Moosewood_ than I would for doing voiceovers on Lowe’s commercials. Well, leaving “art” out of the picture - _Welcome to Mooseport_, however bad it may be, is clearly billed as fiction, whereas the commercial’s are not. I feel the same way about celebrities pitching me garbage as I would if a real-life acquaintance took advantage of a pre-existing relationship to make money pitching me some product. The only out is if it’s a **really** exceptional product. The difference between celebs and the actors who generally appear in commercials, is well, celebrity. The regular actors are anonymous spokesmen representing the product - the celebrities are personally endorsing a product - implying or stating that it’s a good product (I suspect they may sometimes not be entirely truthful about this). The Queen of England is a longtime offender - does she really smoke Benson & Hedges while scarfing Jelly Babies and Chivers marmalade etc. as my grandmother used to wonder. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583/36 "2005-02-25T22:24:21Z")
…foreign-born athletes trying to pitch products like toothepaste, shaving crean, razors, etc. I remember that Mexican baseballpalyer (Valenzuela) trying to pitch a product-he could hardly speak english! And, I don’t reallt believe that Tiger Woods drives Buicks, or that supermodel Cindy Crawford wears clothes from KMART. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2005, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583/37 "2005-02-26T00:20:08Z")
> [@Alan Smithee](#): > > Plus, iPod and iTunes are distribution media for _music_, which musicians have a legitimate interest in promoting for their own sake, if they believe they will increase the distribution of their music or improve the listening experience of their fans. I doubt anyone would have looked askance if Dylan had done an iPod ad. Yeah, but Victoria’s Secret is about _sex_, which is the single biggest impetus for people to start rock and roll bands. So I don’t see the conflict of interest here. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2005, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583/38 "2005-02-26T00:25:15Z")
What about Tyra Banks? She’s probably more famous than Bob Dylan by now. Is she supposed to stop doing Victoria Secrets ads as well? Because if Tyra Banks in a wonder bra is wrong, I don’t want to be right. ---
**Author:** ![Large\_Marge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/50afbb/32.png) [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2005, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583/39 "2005-02-26T07:15:20Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > How can an actor be selling out his profession by taking an acting job? Sure, acting in a soup commercial may not be as prestigious as doing a Broadway play, but acting is acting. Where are you going to draw the line? Prime time is okay, but doing a soap opera is selling out? Movies are okay, but no straight-to-video releases? Voice over work for Pixar or the Simpsons is okay, but no Nick Toons? I was thinking more of musicians, but 20 years ago, it \*\*was \*\*considered a sell-out if an actor did commercials. It was thought that they were in it for the money instead of for the love of the craft. Doing a commercial wasn’t (and some may argue _isn’t_) practicing the craft. Jimmy Stewart selling Marlboros? Johnny Carson selling Ban deoderant? Barbra Streisand selling Bounce? It was a rarity. You see much more of it today, where doing anything to make a buck is typically thought to be acceptable if not commendable. Those Lindsay Wagner commercials for the Sleep Number make me so sad for her, as did those Robert Urich commercials for that water pick thingy. When Urich died, there were numerous stories about his acting work, but not many about his commercials. [E Online story](http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0%2C1%2C9812%2C00.html?tnews) ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583/40 "2005-02-26T16:26:10Z")
I just don’t get this whole “sell out” concept. I’m a writer. I write for a living. These days, I’m mostly doing books and some magazine articles, but I’ve done everything from ghost writing to ad copy. To me, it’s my job. If somebody offers to pay me good money to write a commercial, magazine ad, “advertorial,” brochure, or data sheet, I’m just doing my job. I’m not “selling out.” I’m not detracting from my books and articles. What’s the big deal? An actor can make more money from a 30-second TV commercial than a small part in a movie or TV show. Why should they pass it up? It’s still acting, right? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-doing-advertisements-your-thoughts/291583.md?page=3)