Stars line up in PSAs against sex trafficking

Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore launched a big PSA campaign Monday to fight sex slavery under the theme, "Real men don't buy girls." It's a star-studded affair starring everyone from Kutcher himself to Sean Penn, Bradley Cooper, Drake, Jamie Foxx, Jason Mraz, Justin Timberlake and the realest real man of all, Old Spice's Isaiah Mustafa. (Isaiah appears in the spot below—with Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore, for some reason.) Salon.com craps on the effort for having "zero substance," though obviously the celebs' only real duty is deliver eyeballs. Thus the Funny Or Die-esque approach, which admittedly has little to do with sex trafficking—the whole concept is just a play on words. The spots are structured oddly, featuring narratives with particular celebs that cut to framed photos of different celebs who are also "real men." Over on Facebook, you can make your own video, where your image appears in one of the picture frames. As these things go, it's pretty run-of-the-mill. What is odd is that most of the YouTube videos are unlisted, making it difficult for people like me to show them to people like you. I did track down three more, posted after the jump.

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Filed under Celebrity endorsements, Nudd, PSAs, Sexual assault
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Baldwin, Krasinski talk trash in New Era ad

The Yankees and Red Sox play this afternoon for the first time this year. And while the Sox are 0-6 and already four games behind the Yanks (and five behind the Orioles!), that won't diminish the excitement at Fenway Park—and doesn't dampen the humor of the New Era spot below, featuring Alec Baldwin and John Krasinski talking trash about the rivalry (that latter word being one that Baldwin, the Yankee fan, believes gives the Sox too much credit). Nicely done by Brooklyn Brothers and Hungry Man director Bryan Buckley.

Filed under Baseball, Brooklyn Brothers, Celebrity endorsements, New Era, Nudd
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David Beckham flaunts fake skills for Pepsi

This Pepsi video of David Beckham performing unlikely soccer tricks on the beach is very 2005 (see Ronaldinho's crossbar spot for Nike), but it's still more entertaining than the Diet Pepsi commercial he's making will be. Either he lowered his price tag or Pepsi's profit margins have improved, because I thought they parted ways three years ago. That aside, the consensus seems to be that the footage was heavily edited to enhance Beckham's already impressive skills, but hey, I was still impressed. I mean, I'm an out-of-shape guy on the Internet, so kicking a soccer ball barefoot is enough to earn my admiration.

Filed under Celebrity endorsements, Kiefaber, Pepsi, Soccer, Soda
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Sarah Silverman develops taste for unicorn

The Serenading Unicorn is a two-timing bastard! Or is he? Sarah Silverman has been known to overreact in the past, and that suggestive text on her furry boyfriend's phone could've been from an ardent Juicy Fruit fan and not his chick on the side. Well, it's possible. Wrigley continues to get mileage out of its Serenading Unicorn character with this just-released music video that follows the ups and downs of being in love with a mythological creature (no, not Silverman). As with the other short films in the series, from EVB in San Francisco, the connection to chewing gum is in name only. (There's not even any product placement.) This video's called "Sweet Desire," dovetailing with the product's "Gotta have sweet? Gotta have Juicy Fruit" tagline. And yet, it's another solid piece of confection marketing likely to have strong pass-along value. Try not to be moved by the piano solo to Aerosmith's "Angel," Unicorn's homemade mix tape and Silverman's admission that she has horse-like features but she's actually a person with real human feelings. Go ahead, try.

Filed under Celebrity endorsements, EVB, Gum, Stanley, Wrigley
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Richard Simmons: fit to fly Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand, whose wacky mile-high antics we've written about many times before, has scored another viral hit with this in-flight safety video featuring Richard Simmons. You may remember Air New Zealand's suggestive squirrel, failed cougar contest, and naked flight attendants. But all that pales in comparison to the supernova of specialness that is Mr. Simmons. The three-minute clip, called "Fit to Fly," is fabulous fun. "Stretch it out and lose that baggage. Stretch it up to the overhead locker," Richard cries ebulliently. "Stretch and slide, yeah, you're a giraffe!" This replaces last year's rugby-themed safety video and is already far more popular. It was created by New Zealand creative agency .99 and also includes celebrity appearances by Amazing Race presenter Phil Keoghan, television personality Paul Henry, Temepara George of the Silver Ferns netball team and Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe. Can't get enough? Check the behind-the-scenes video after the jump.

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Filed under .99, Air New Zealand, Airlines, Celebrity endorsements, Cullers, New Zealand
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Tom Colicchio camps out in HBO food truck

HBO's Game of Thrones has hired celebrity chef and Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio to be the bread to its circus. All this week, Colicchio is serving free food (including meats like rabbit, duck, squab and venison) from trucks in NYC and LA. Each day's cuisine is based on a popular type of food from a fictional region in the medieval-fantasy series, which premieres April 17. Yesterday, it was Kings Landing, which meant crispy tout with almond butter and cumquat chutney, roasted rabbit with preserved lemons, honey, scallions and braised pistachios, and lemon-cake dessert. The only way to find out the menu and truck location is to follow the Game of Thrones Twitter feed. Food trucks are all the rage now in promotional marketing. But while I wasn't tempted by Air France's offer of free airline food, or the History Channel's Swamp People food truck, this stunt has me wishing, for once, that I lived in New York and not Atlanta. Of course, if this were super faithful to the Game of Thrones series, a couple of the portions will be poisoned.

Filed under Celebrity endorsements, Cullers, Food and drink, HBO, TV
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Sexy Serena Williams gaming spot is leaked

This commercial for Serena Williams's butt was never meant to see the light of day. Oh, sorry, actually it's for a tennis video game called Top Spin 4—my mistake. The company behind the ad, 2K Sports, decided not to air it. But then, apparently unhappy with that decision, the other actress in the ad posted it herself on YouTube, according to Joystiq. "This video is not part of the title's final marketing campaign and its distribution was unauthorized," 2K Sports says. Hopefully the approved finished product will show the actual game somewhere in there.

Filed under Celebrity endorsements, Kiefaber, Tennis, Video games
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Zooey Deschanel unrecognizable in new ad

Zooey Deschanel got airbrushed all to hell for this Rimmel Lasting Finish lipstick ad, which has shocked and offended the same people who wig out over every bad modeling Photoshop job. Such botched jobs are almost too commonplace to really be aggravating now, but here they altered poor Zooey to the point where she doesn't even look like herself—they rounded out her face and squashed her nose in and fattened her lips too much. Why didn't they just find someone who already looked like that, if that's what they wanted? It would save them money, which they desperately need for better graphic designers. Compare Rimmel's zombie Zooey to the real Zooey over at Styleite.

Filed under Celebrity endorsements, Cosmetics, Kiefaber, Photoshop
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Aflac cans Gilbert Gottfried for Japan jokes

After more than a decade as the grating voice behind Aflac's web-footed mascot, comedian Gilbert Gottfried has been fired for making jokes on Twitter about the devastating Japanese tsunami. On Saturday, Gottfried reportedly posted a series of about a dozen tweets making light of the natural disaster. They include such zingers as: "Japan is really advanced. They don’t go to the beach. The beach comes to them.” (All his posts have since been deleted.) "Gilbert's recent comments about the crisis in Japan were lacking in humor and certainly do not represent the thoughts and feelings of anyone at Aflac," Chief Marketing Officer Michael Zuna said. "Aflac Japan — and by extension, Japan itself — is part of the Aflac family, and there is no place for anything but compassion and concern during these difficult times." It probably doesn't help Gottfried's case that Aflac does 75% of its business in Japan and had already pledged $1.2 million for recovery. Photo credit: Reuters.

Filed under Aflac, Celebrity endorsements, Controversy
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Logitech, now with even more Kevin Bacon

Logitech's Kevin Bacon commercial, in which the actor plays a Kevin Bacon fanatic called Ivan Cobenk, was one of the great ads of last year. Now, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners has released the hilarious extended version below. And it's not just extended—it's interactive. Scroll your mouse around the video, and you'll be able to click on all sorts of objects—with many of the links taking you to eBay, where you can bid on Cobenk's tchotchkes. (You can also check out the whole collection in a special eBay store called Kevin Wonders of the World.) Great stuff. Prediction: Those "actual rubber wieners that were used on Apollo 13" are going to go for a pretty penny.

Filed under Celebrity endorsements, Goodby, Silverstein, Logitech, Nudd
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Charlie Sheen's first paid tweet is a #winner

Judging from his Twitter numbers and the continued media frenzy surrounding his every move, Charlie Sheen is now the most important person on the face of the Earth. Kate Middleton must be fuming! In just 48 hours, Chuck pulled in more than 400,000 clicks for his Ad.ly tweet sponsorship of Internships.com, and by late yesterday, the firm received almost 75,000 applications from folks angling for an eight-week internship with the troubled TV star. Sheen's ad begins: "Do you have #TigerBlood? Are you all about #Winning? Can you #PlanBetter than anyone else? If so, we want you on #TeamSheen as our social media #TigerBloodIntern!" Holy hashtags, is this rummy down with the social or what? Sheen claims to have "TigerBlood" in his veins that protects him from evil. I wouldn't be surprised by anything found racing through his system. As Charlie's intern, "You will learn how to promote and develop the social media network of Hollywood's most trending celebrity." Translation: You'll be scoring drugs for da man. The application deadline is Friday, with résumés due Monday. Emilio Estevez should apply—the buzz could make my dream of a Mighty Ducks 4 a reality. Of course, that fucking Chrysler twit also needs work.

Filed under Ad.ly, Celebrity endorsements, Gianatasio, Internships.com, Social media, Twitter
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Leonardo DiCaprio hasn't aged since '88 ad

It's hard to believe Leonardo DiCaprio was only 14 years old when he made this Bubble Yum ad in 1988, because it seems like he's only aged about three years since then. It's like he was born with that face and spent his entire life growing into it. The rest of this ad is 1980s concentrate: the checkered shirt and tie that made him look like he woke up late on class-picture day, the "loud-thumpin', tune-pumpin' boombox," the murky film quality—it's all there. And if you winced at his wardrobe in this, just wait until you see him in J. Edgar.

Filed under Celebrity endorsements, Gum, Kiefaber, Vintage
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Kobe Bryant throws up an air ball for airline

Here's how to stir up controversy with the sizable and vocal Armenian American community in Los Angeles: Get cozy with the Turks. Kobe Bryant, the Lakers star, found this out when he signed a two-year deal to endorse Turkish Airlines. Protests, outrage and threatened boycotts (which never seemed to materialize) followed. Now, the first commercial launches, leaving a lot of people asking if this campaign is really worth all the hubbub it's caused. It's not even very good, and it's certainly not an original idea. Kobe and a chef-of-the-sky switch places and try each other's jobs. Yawn. (Is a short white guy getting pummeled on the basketball court always good for a laugh? Nope.) Bryant, a longtime pitchman in the U.S. and one of the NBA's most famous faces worldwide, couldn't possibly have needed the money. To make this dustup worthwhile will take something more substantial than the ad itself.

Filed under Airlines, Celebrity endorsements, Controversy, Kobe Bryant, Stanley
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Jennifer Aniston starring in ad, not sex tape

The luddite Jennifer Aniston turns in a winning performance in this new Glacéau Smartwater spot, even though the premise is pretty stale. She is joined by Keenan Cahill, Paul "Bear" Vasquez, dancing babies and other Internet stars—who are on hand to help her make the video go viral (or in her words, "turn it into a virus"). In the interest of goosing video views, Aniston also agrees to kick a guy in the balls and to call the video "Jen Aniston's Sex Tape." (Unfortunately, they don't follow through on the latter, maybe because YouTube doesn't allow it.) It turns out Keenan Cahill and Jennifer Aniston are an even more outlandish pair than Keenan Cahill and a singing unicorn—though of course, a Keenan Cahill/Jennifer Aniston sex tape would indeed out-traffic them all. Agency: Zambezi.

Filed under Celebrity endorsements, Food and drink, Nudd, Smartwater, Zambezi
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Daniel Craig does a pro-women PSA in drag

Daniel Craig dresses as Danielle Craig in this new PSA for International Women's Day on behalf of WeAreEquals.org. Actually, he's playing James Bond in the clip—with Judi Dench (who plays M in the recent Bond films) asking him in the narration if he really believes that men and women are equal. The spot was directed by Sam Taylor-Wood and penned by Kick-Ass screenwriter Jane Goldman. While Craig, 43, is doing his part for gender equality, he's been stymied in his efforts to advance gay rights. The actor, who is straight, has been lobbying for some time—so far without success—to have his James Bond appear in a gay scene.

Filed under Celebrity endorsements, Europe, James Bond, Nudd, PSAs
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Jimmy Fallon gets own Ben & Jerry's flavor

Jimmy Fallon killed as an Emmy Awards host and sang a faux-folkie duet with the Boss himself, but how do we know he's truly arrived? He's inspired a Ben & Jerry's ice-cream flavor. Following in the footsteps of the sweet-toothed, brand-loving Stephen Colbert, Fallon has spawned Late Night Snack, a gooey confection with potato chips, caramel swirl and fudge in vanilla bean ice cream. More like Late Night Stoner Snack, yeah? The dessert, which came about through a deal between NBC's consumer products division and Ben & Jerry's, starts hitting stores this week. The marketer had already been mulling a potato chip mix-in when Fallon and his house band, the Roots, played an original song about Ben & Jerry's treats as the fictional group Ladysmith Snack Mambazo. (Those guys really like their junk food—they previously sang an ode to Hot Pockets.) From that in-show ad sprang a piece of licensed swag. Late Night Snack joins Colbert's Americone Dream as the only other flavor to be based on a wee-hours chat show; expect Fallon, his musicians and guests to eat lots of it in the coming days.

Filed under Ben & Jerry's, Celebrity endorsements, Ice cream, Stanley
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Mind if @charliesheen sells you something?

As you may have noticed, Charlie Sheen just set a new Guinness World Record for being the fastest person ever to reach 1 million Twitter followers. (He accomplished that mean feat in 25 hours and 17 minutes between Tuesday and Wednesday this week.) But he's not just on Twitter for kicks—or to impress more people with the ramblings of his newly enlightened self. He's on it to make money by endorsing products. As GQ reports, Sheen's handlers reached out to Los Angeles-based digital company ad.ly, which set up his Twitter account. Ad.ly specializes in marketing partnerships with celebs, getting folks like Snoop Dogg and Kim Kardashian (and now Sheen) to recommend products and services in exchange for cash (in Kim's case, supposedly $10,000 per tweet). Sheen confirms to TMZ that it's all about the money. ("I'm unemployed!" he points out.) He has yet to make an overt pitch through the account (unless Tigerblood is his forthcoming soft drink), and it remains to be seen whose products he'll endorse. Presumably he will start by peddling his own fragrance. UPDATE: More details here from Brian Morrissey. "We want to be top of mind if they think about monetizing it," says ad.ly CEO Arnie Gullov-Singh. "He may never think of monetizing it."

Filed under Ad.ly, Celebrity endorsements, Nudd, Twitter
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Winning, a new cologne from Charlie Sheen

Jimmy Fallon does a decent Charlie Sheen impression, and puts that timely skill to good use in this spoof cologne commercial for Sheen's scent "Winning." Presumably it smells like violent hatred.

Filed under Celebrity endorsements, Fragrances, Nudd, Parody
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Lady Gaga in spooky ad for MAC cosmetics

If Natalie Portman can loll around in the tub with her sunglasses on, shouldn't Lady Gaga be allowed to have a goldfish swimming in her cocktail? New ads starring these two leading ladies have water imagery in common, but I'm not sure what else. Maybe the whole point is that celebrity commercials for beauty products are intentionally weird. On the heels of Portman's Miss Dior Cherie spot, directed by Sofia Coppola, Lady Gaga gets her due in this MAC Viva Glam ad, where she hangs out with a bunch of sparkly skulls, puts on lipstick and takes off her undies. (She's never been big on covering up.) Compare and contrast the ads, and let us know if either will tug your purse strings. (MAC gives a portion of its Viva Glam sales to its AIDS fund, in keeping with Gaga's gay-friendly platform.)

Filed under Celebrity endorsements, Cosmetics, Lady Gaga, Stanley
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'House' star films pro-choice ad for MoveOn

This week's controversy over a race-centric anti-abortion billboard in SoHo—rapidly taken down—came against the backdrop of a broader political battle over federal funding for women's health services. Liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org recently produced this pro-choice spot featuring House actress Lisa Edelstein, in response to efforts by House Republicans on Capitol Hill to cut public money for abortions from the budget. Featuring a persona associated with the medical profession—albeit fictionally—helps drive the ad's message. (House himself, on the other hand, would have offered a surely skewed opinion.)

Filed under Abortion, Beltrone, Celebrity endorsements, MoveOn, Politics
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Sofia Coppola, Natalie Portman film Dior ad

Christian Dior's approach to advertising is like Mr. Burns's approach to baseball: Pack the game with celebrity ringers, and you can't really lose. Whereas Burns got Darryl Strawberry, Dior this time has gotten Natalie Portman to flounce around a French apartment, bathing with her sunglasses on while Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin's "Je T'aime Moi Non Plus" plays in the background. Sofia Coppola directed the spot, joining the likes of David Lynch and John Cameron Mitchell in so doing, and Darren Aronofsky has an Yves Saint Laurent perfume ad on the way. They really need to get Spike Lee or Yûdai Yamaguchi to direct one of these things, because the current trend in perfume ads has officially crossed over from glamorous to alienating and dull.

Filed under Celebrity endorsements, Fragrances, Kiefaber
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Willem Dafoe gets heavy for Jim Beam spot

Jim Beam and StrawberryFrog make the most of Willem Dafoe's totem-pole-carving face in this "Bold Choice" spot by having him play nearly every character in it. The sumo-wrestler Dafoe is the stuff of screaming night terrors, but the rest of the ad is pretty good, although it's the poop-shoveling carny—and not any of the slick businessmen or snippy fashion designers—who's most likely to have experienced a life-changing decision involving Jim Beam. Folks in Milwaukee might also take exception to the commercial, based on the closing scene.

Filed under Alcohol, Celebrity endorsements, Jim Beam, Kiefaber, StrawberryFrog
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James Lipton helping Toyota pluralize Prius

Last we saw James Lipton, he was using his omnipotent beard to get teens to stop sending photos of their genitals to each other—one of the oddest PSA campaigns in recent memory. Now, the Inside the Actors Studio host is back in this fairly humorous video for Toyota, in which he chats with a down-market William Shakespeare about language, and eventually gets around to the issue at hand—i.e., what the plural of "Prius" should be. Toyota is putting a load of messaging behind this pluralization campaign, having first appealed to consumers to pick their favorite plural almost a month ago. The hilariously odd Lipton takes it to another level, though. Voting on the plural of Prius ends Feb. 20. Won't you, in Lipton's words, give it a ponder? Via Adrants.

Filed under Automotive, Celebrity endorsements, James Lipton, Nudd, Toyota
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Bush daughter shoots spot for gay marriage

In the grand tradition of Republican relatives breaking with their family members on social topics, Barbara Bush, the daughter of George W. Bush, has filmed the spot below supporting gay marriage in New York. As president, Barbara's father, of course, was in favor of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. The timing of Barbara's ad makes sense—she didn't want it to be all awkward at the holidays! Now, she might not even have to see Dad until maybe Memorial Day. Barbara follows in the footsteps of Cindy McCain, who duct-taped her mouth shut in a striking pro-gay-marriage ad last winter. John McCain's daughter Meghan is also vocal supporter of same-sex marriage, despite her father’s opposition to it. The Cheneys have also dealt with this issue. Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of Dick Cheney, has long spoken out in support of gay marriage. The difference there is that she convinced her father to change his position. He now supports gay marriage, as long as it is deemed legal by state and not federal government.

Filed under Celebrity endorsements, Gay rights, Nudd
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Shannen Doherty rocks random infomercial

Ye of little faith—you thought Shannen Doherty's best work was behind her. (Say, that string of TV movies she did in the '90s.) But you're wrong. Take a gander, if you will, at the video below, and see if the former fit-throwing 90210 diva doesn't have chops. (This sounds like snark, but I'm actually serious.) And for those who'd say that appearing in branded entertainment paid for by the Better Sleep Council is scraping the bottom of the barrel, I'll just mention that tons of Hollywood actors like Jason Bateman, Marisa Tomei and Will Arnett are working with marketers on original online content, too. This particular ad series, dubbed "Suite 7" (the short-form videos are designed to "entertain and heighten the awareness of the link between the mattress and overall sleep health"), also stars another 90210 ex, Brian Austin Green, as well as Milo Ventimiglia of Heroes and Illeana Douglas, who has already created a much-lauded online series for Ikea called "Easy to Assemble." So, give Shannen a break, haters. Better this than Christmas Caper 2.

Filed under Better Sleep Council, Celebrity endorsements, Stanley
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