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The use of celebrities in product advertising seems to appear more in TV than in older media, such as radio, print and even cinema. Actors, athletes, musicians and other notables have lent their talents to TV commercials. Some, like Paul Newman, have gone so far as to create the products they sell.
More properly called "Celebrity Spokesman", as an endorsement requires the celebrity testify to his own use of the product, and this isn't always part of a celebrity's role in the commercial.
Due perhaps to its prevalence, at some point it became required to indicate in a caption or subtitle if the celebrity endorser was compensated for the endorsement. That is to say, if you paid the celebrity to endorse your product, you had to mention that on the screen somewhere.
I'm Not a Doctor But I Play One On TV is a subset of this. See Character Celebrity Endorsement for endorsements from celebrities that are not, in fact, real.
See also Notable Commercial Campaigns, and Character Celebrity Endorsement when the product is promoted by fictional beings, who are celebrities nonetheless.
Examples
- Lights lent some of her songs to (and even appeared in) an Old Navy TV ad campaign in early 2008. Inverted since these commercials actually introduced her to many of her fans.
- The Monkees for Kellogg's cereals, during their TV show.
- Ed McMahon and Dick Clark for American Family Publishers. McMahon was also once a paid endorser for an insurance company.
- Bill Cosby for Jell-O, Eastman Kodak & Coca-Cola. Whether the Cos likes it or not, this is the aspect of his career that will probably live on longest in popular culture.
- You see, jazz is like the Jello Pudding Pop — no, actually, it's more like Kodak film — no, actually, jazz is like the New Coke: it'll be around forever, heh heh heh. Simpsons
- Tommy LaSorda and Elizabeth Ashley for Slim-Fast.
- William Shatner for PriceLine.com.
- Phil Rizzuto for The Money Store.
- Kirstie Alley for Jenny Craig.
- George Foreman and his "Lean, Mean, Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine". (Many people don't even remember what Foreman was famous for — He was a professional boxer.)
- In one of the oddest, and perhaps most ironic, ads of all time, ousted Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev appeared in a Russian-language commercial for Pizza Hut, which later aired in the US.
- Art Linkletter used to appear in a small seal on the box of the Game of Life. He also appeared on the $100,000 bill in the game.
- Michael J. Fox was such a huge supporter of Pepsi/Diet Pepsi during the late 1980s, most likely due to the rather prominent Pepsi product placement in Back To The Future. More Pepsi product placement was included in Back To The Future Part II. Michael J. Fox was even given a lifetime supply to Diet Pepsi.
- Cybill Shepherd was in a series ads for the U.S. Beef Industry Council, although she admitted she is a vegetarian.
- World Of Warcraft has fully endorsed this route, with commercials staring Verne Troyer, William Shatner, Mr. T, and more. This is to demonstrate how wide spread the game has become, so all of the celebrities you see, actually play the game. Rumor has it that they approached Chuck Norris but he refused.
- He did, however, endorse presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. It didn't help.
- Jay Leno has also done this recently- as one of the "greenskins"
- Soccer player Pele and Viagra, also known as "the Pele pill". Mercilessly parodied in The Simpsons.
- Stephen Colbert, in character, talked Apple into sending him a free iPhone by promising to promote it on The Colbert Report.
- To say nothing of "Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream" flavor of Ben & Jerry's ice cream.
- He did it AGAIN with the iPad the day it was announced. 4 days later, presenting at the Grammys, what does he have down his pants?
- To say nothing of the fact that he still happily shilled for it even after the less than typical reception (for an Apple product at least) it got upon its unveiling.
- Spoofed on The Simpsons Movie: "This is Tom Hanks. The government has lost all its credibility, so it's borrowing some of mine."
- Blackglama Mink's "What Becomes a Legend Most?" campaign was probably the most extreme version of this trope, mainly because the entire premise of it was celebrity endorsements, right down to the slogan.
- Especially since it was a complete and total ripoff of a 1950s ad campaign for watches, right down to the exact wording of the slogan.
- Jay Leno in the Doritos ads during the 80's. "Crunch all you want, we'll make more."
- Rowan Atkinson in Barclaycard ads during the 80's.
- Verne Troyer for Cadberry's mini chocolates range.
- Heavily parodied in the original Wayne's World, with a scene in which Wayne and Garth explain how they won't sell out to the TV network, while overtly displaying various products and spouting advertising slogans (including Garth dressed head to toe in in assorted Rebok Sportswear.
- Alyssa Milano, Jenna Fischer, Jessica Simpson, and
Puff Daddy P. Diddy Sean Combs have all done advertisements for the Proactive line of acne medication, all gushing about how it got rid of the small and barely visible (with makeup) blemishes that were destroying their lives and careers.
- President Barack Obama 's much-publicized struggle to keep his Blackberry in the Oval Office isn't an endorsement per se, but it's certainly not unwelcome publicity for RIM.
- Lampshaded by John Hodgman at a press dinner, in which he referred to the President's "smartphone whose brand name I am contractually obligated not to mention".
- Possibly justified if you consider the commercials he appears in regularly.
- Johnny Rotten is advertising Country Life butter.
- Parodied hilariously on Whose Line Is It Anyway. "Celebrity endorsements that are doomed to fail."
- Revlon relies heavily on celebrity endorsements. Jessica Alba, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon and Queen Latifah are among some of the big names who have shilled for the company.
- Big name celebrities who have done Japanese ad campaigns include Orlando Bloom, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Madonna, Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis, Keifer Sutherland and Harrison Ford.
- Homestar Runner parodied this in Strong Bad's retrospective on the career of the Geddup Noise (an anthropomorphized sound effect of a chair moving across the floor), stating that Geddup is currently retired except for endorsements in bizarre infomercials.
- There's also Strong Bad's generic pitch in "Coach Z's 110%": "This product is a product I endorse... on my hat."
- No mention for Michael Jordan? He's very much the king of endorsements in basketball, and perhaps all of sports.
- BE LIKE MIKE!
- Currently, it's Peyton Manning, and here's his following endorsements: DirecTV, MasterCard, Oreo, Gatorade, and Wheaties.
- Also Shaquille O'Neal who is more famous for his endorsements than his basketball career.
- "Macho Man" Randy Savage would like to tell you to SNAP INTO A SLIM JIM! OH YEAH!
- I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite store on the Citadel.
- Fabio can't believe it's not butter!
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