![]() Pfizer started airing spots featuring Jarvik in 2006. When Pfizer needed someone to endorse its drug Lipitor, Robert Jarvik seemed like an ideal fit.Īfter all, who better to talk about a heart drug than the celebrity inventor who helped perfect the artificial heart? Goldberg remained unrepentant after her firing, though, commenting, "I only wish that the Republican re-election committee would spend as much time working on the economy as they seem to be spending trying to harm my pocketbook." Mental Floss: A brief history of celebrity political endorsements While the audience was amused, conservatives weren't.Ĭalls for boycotts of Slim-Fast products (sensible dinners were still allowed) started bubbling up among conservatives, and the company canned Goldberg just eight months into her tenure as their spokesperson. When Goldberg appeared at a fundraiser for John Kerry during the 2004 presidential race, she took the stage waving a wine bottle and firing off barrages of sexual puns based on President Bush's name. ![]() She's also fairly politically active, though, and that came back to bite her while she was a celebrity endorser for Slim-Fast. ![]() She's warm, funny, and generally beloved. ![]() Goldberg would seem like the perfect person to pitch a product. The commission phased out Reynolds' commercials, and one featuring Anderson's hand reaching for a glass of juice fell out of play entirely. In 1993, though, Reynolds' marriage to actress Loni Anderson had started to unravel, and as the sordid, bitter details of the rift began to surface, the orange juice biz became too wholesome for the man who'd been the Bandit. The mustachioed Reynolds may not have maintained the star power he had during his 1970s heyday, but he was still an effective pitchman well into the 1990s.Īs a former Florida State University football star, it was only natural that he'd find his way into a position promoting orange juice for the Florida State Citrus Commission. He has appeared in off-Broadway productions, and in November 2007 was the subject of a New York Magazine story about his employment in a Mexican restaurant in the city.įlorida State Citrus Commission and Burt Reynolds The computer giant dropped Curtis and his ad campaign shortly after the arrest.įor his part, Curtis has bounced back, though. What you may not remember is that the hyper-enthusiastic "Dell Dude" (actor Ben Curtis) got busted for attempting to buy a bag of marijuana in New York City.Īlthough the bag of pot was tiny enough that Curtis escaped any big legal entanglements, Dell was less than amused. Mental Floss: The celebrity endorsement quizĭude, remember those fantastically annoying "Dude, You're Getting a Dell!" ads from a few years ago? O'Reilly/Hope all is well, kiss the plaintiff and the wifey," a pointed dig at a sexual harassment lawsuit that was pending against the talking head. Pepsi quickly dumped Ludacris, and the rapper made quite a bit of hay out of his feud with O'Reilly on several subsequent records, including the jab "Hi Mr. He called for a boycott of Pepsi products until the man O'Reilly decried as a "thug rapper" was shown to the pitchman door. O'Reilly was incensed by Ludacris' lyrics that glorified drinking, drugs, violence, and disrespect towards women. Suddenly, the normally reserved conservative commentator Bill O'Reilly launched an offensive against both the soda maker and the rapper. In 2002, rap star Ludacris was minding his own business and endorsing Pepsi. Mental Floss: Is IKEA the world's largest charity?.Mental Floss: 8 smooches that (sort of) shook the world.Think Madonna getting physical with a saint is offensive? Just wait ten more seconds by then she'll have developed stigmata! The video caused such a stir that it was banned in some countries, and Pepsi quickly had to drop its Madonna spots and cancel future appearances by the singer. The music video for "Like a Prayer" was almost laughable in its willingness to go over the top to appall each scene of Madonna's religious subplot seems to raise the bar for nonsensical shock value a little bit higher. The soda company signed Madonna to a $5 million deal to make commercials, including one that would include the song "Like a Prayer." That's when the trouble started. Pepsi apparently neglected to think about the possibility that something could go horribly awry when they took the singer on as their new voice, though. Take for instance these guys and gals, each of whom was given their walking papers following a scandal, public embarrassment, or bout of outspokenness.Īlthough she's back in the news now for allegedly bewitching Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, it's sometimes hard to remember that Madonna was a sex symbol, not just a cautionary tale about taking your Anglophilia several steps too far.īack in 1989, though, she was not just the embodiment of sexuality she was also willing to do almost anything to be shocking.
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