Here in the UK I’ve recently seen commercial by Miley Cyrus, Chris Hemsworth, Judy Dench, and Benedict Cumberbatch. Each of these people is already extremely wealthy. Why do they bother with commercials?
I understand that they make an obscene amount of money for minimal work. But if you already have a net worth of £50 million, what is the benefit to making another million, even if it’s just a few days of work?
None of these people need more fame, work, or money, so why would they bother making commercials?
Maybe they look at it as better than free exposure. They keep their face out there and earn enough to pay the taxes on their multi-million dollar estates without touching their investments at the same time. Its a cycle they dont want to stop.
I just looked up Chris Hemsworth, and it says he has a net worth of over £150 million. He did an ad for Hugo Boss cologne and now has a net worth of £151 million. He already had more money than he can ever spend, now he has even more. I don’t see the benefit.
Very few middle-class people actually “need” more money either, yet they keep trying to get raises, etc.
It is extremely common to confuse “wants” with “needs.” This is part of the answer. Another part is that some people are never satisfied with what they have–they always want more.
Another part is that some people have their identity bound up in their work. If they quit working, they may not know what to do, or what to think about themselves. Yet another part is that some people simply enjoy what they do, and see no reason to quit.
In short, there are many possible reasons why somebody may continue to work when they don’t need to.
Merely having a vast fortune isn’t enough, if you think there aren’t enough people noticing and talking about you. Ads fill the gap between movies and other public appearances.
Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen probably didn’t need the $20 milllion they were paid to promote the FTX crypto scam. Now they’re potentially on the hook for a lot more money, and their fee may have completely dissolved.*
*they reportedly were paid in company stock and digital currency.
Yes, but they can have a better life by wanting a raise. They can afford more things. For a normal person, suddenly getting £1 million would change their life. But going from £150 million to £151 million will change absolutely nothing in their lives.
All of these people are in demand as actors, so it isn’t a matter of enjoying work either.
Sometimes wealthy people enjoy specific products. Much more often they are offered a high money to low work ratio. Though it is usually about the money, exposure and ego (one presumes) they may see some ads as prestigious.
And, you can broaden your exposure overseas while earning some dough without looking like a shill to your home base.
Most actors dread the day they dont get asked to sponsor shit because it also means they dont have good prospects for actual acting roles. No one wants to be a has been
As said by so many, easy money, and you can never have too much money. The OP seems to assume that everybody is driven to get just so rich and then they can quit. IRL it doesn’t work like that. People who have the drive to act, make music, tycoon, whatever don’t lose that drive once they are rich. If anything, the drive gets stronger. This is a good thing, because otherwise we’d never have any decent older actors.
No, I assume actors who have enough money want interesting parts. I don’t question why Cumberbatch made an Oscar nominated indie movie last year, or even why he would do a blockbuster like Avengers. But a Nissan commercial? I question that.
Most actors worked their asses off early in their careers to get roles and exposure. I do wonder if that engine ever fully turns off, even if you’re fabulously successful.
It’s interesting how a lot of actors only do commercial work overseas. I was surprised to see Robert DeNiro doing ads in the UK for the worst bread I’ve ever eaten. I think it was Warburtons? Also, Harvey Keitel was in a bunch of ads that got tons of air time…some kind of insurance.
A nice work to pay ratio, and they’re seldom called on to do much of anything. There doesn’t seem to be any humiliation attached to it, so why not spend a couple of days getting fabulous money and their asses kissed?
I don’t know what your net worth is, OP, but are you saying that if someone came to you and offered to pay you 2% of your net worth to fly you and your SO first class to some interesting location, put you up in a five-star hotel for several nights, ask you to say a few words to a camera for a few hours, then fly you home first class, you would say, “No, it’s not worth it, I have enough money”?
If so, I think you are in a very small class of people.
I mean, if they were asking you to promote child labor camps, or Trump NFTs, or something despicable, refusing on ethical grounds would be understandable. But advertising some reputable, non-controversial product. Why the hell not?
