# How Long Should A Company Use A Dead Actor In Their Commercials? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 24, 2004, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-should-a-company-use-a-dead-actor-in-their-commercials/281455 "2004-12-24T07:31:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-should-a-company-use-a-dead-actor-in-their-commercials/281455/21 "2004-12-26T16:16:08Z")
> [@voguevixen](#): > > Wendy’s gives you liver cancer? :rolleyes: I dunno about his death, but didn’t he have something like a quadruple bypass right around the time of an “extra bacon on everything” promotion by them? That wasn’t the best advertising… ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-should-a-company-use-a-dead-actor-in-their-commercials/281455/22 "2004-12-26T18:05:35Z")
> [@Trailer Park Casanova](#): > > * * * > > Posted by IGNATZ: > > “But seriously, I remember hearing a voice like Robert Mitchum’s doing the the Beef is Better ads for a while after he died.” > > * * * > > Is that Robert Mitchum? I thought it was actor Sam Sheppard. It was Robert Mitchum up until his death. The ads with his voice ran for a few more months, until the family requested that they not air any more. Sam Sheppard was hired to replace Mitchum, since he sounds similar to Mitchum, and has that “cowboy image” in popular culture. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-should-a-company-use-a-dead-actor-in-their-commercials/281455/23 "2004-12-27T01:18:10Z")
> [@watsonwil](#): > > In the same ad campaign, Latin music legend Celia Cruz appeared with a young singer. She _also_ died and they kept running the commercial (difference being she was old and not murdered). If I remember, I believe Cruz was singing about Tito Puente, who had already died when the commercial first aired ---
**Author:** ![c\_goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@c\_goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_goat)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-should-a-company-use-a-dead-actor-in-their-commercials/281455/24 "2004-12-27T16:04:59Z")
I don’t see why they should stop showing a commercial just because the actor died. To me, that would be the same as not showing movies or TV shows with actors that died. I see the difference in that commercials are selling a product and using the person to sell it. However, that person obviously agreed to it before they died, so it’s not an issue for me. I enjoy seeing the work of people that are no longer here. Makes you remember the things they did that you enjoyed. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-should-a-company-use-a-dead-actor-in-their-commercials/281455/25 "2004-12-27T16:54:29Z")
I have less problem with continuing to air a commercial thatbthey made. I just hate using archive footage to put dead actors into commercials. It shows that their families are money hungry whores. ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-should-a-company-use-a-dead-actor-in-their-commercials/281455/26 "2004-12-27T16:56:57Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > It was Robert Mitchum up until his death. The ads with his voice ran for a few more months, until the family requested that they not air any more. Sam Sheppard was hired to replace Mitchum, since he sounds similar to Mitchum, and has that “cowboy image” in popular culture. If it’s the “Beef, It’s What’s For Dinner” campaign, I think it’s Sam _Elliot_, not Sam Shepard (although double-hubba on Shepard, too 😉 VCNJ~ ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-should-a-company-use-a-dead-actor-in-their-commercials/281455/27 "2004-12-27T17:17:11Z")
Wendy’s stopped running “Dave” ads when he died. But recently they started showing ads where they talk about him and his commitment to whatever (meaning quality, not an institution, I guess). That seems like vaguely bad taste to me, but I suppose what it really means is that they haven’t been able to connect to the public without him. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-should-a-company-use-a-dead-actor-in-their-commercials/281455/28 "2004-12-27T19:58:58Z")
Orville Redenbacher (sp?) joined Colonel Sanders among the ranks of “advertising from beyond the grave in cartoon form” for a while but I haven’t seen one lately. I have this memory of some Dave Thomas ones too for Wendy’s, where he’s in the form of a nightlight? Didn’t those air after Thomas died? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-should-a-company-use-a-dead-actor-in-their-commercials/281455/29 "2004-12-27T22:01:02Z")
> [@Veuve\_ClicquotNJ](#): > > If it’s the “Beef, It’s What’s For Dinner” campaign, I think it’s Sam _Elliot_, not Sam Shepard (although double-hubba on Shepard, too 😉 > > VCNJ~ Yeah, it’s Elliot. Both of them though, I think have done a lot of westerns. I don’t particularly care for westerns so I haven’t seen that many of them. (Elliot’s best line, ever, IMHO, is in the otherwise dull _The Contender_ movie where he says, “I don’t think the country is ready for pictures of the Vice President with a mouthful of cock.”) ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-should-a-company-use-a-dead-actor-in-their-commercials/281455/30 "2004-12-27T23:58:53Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > I think it’s worse if the person’s death is somehow connectible to the product, like Dave Thomas/Wendy’s. He died of liver cancer. Do you care to retract your statement or do you have evidence that Wendy’s foods causes liver cancer? Marc [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-should-a-company-use-a-dead-actor-in-their-commercials/281455.md?page=1)