You've got to start somewhere and for many of our favorite celebrities they started off doing commercials. Actually, many of them still do commercials from time to time. But seeing these people endorse some of the most random or unrelated products can be really weird. From the Flintstones smoking cigarettes to Snoop Dogg's team-up with Norton Antivirus, these 35 celebrity endorsements are sure to make you wonder how they got there in the first place. If you want to see what your favorite celebrities have been sponsored by in the past, check out these awesome images below!
Penélope and Mónica Cruz and Nintendo
In celebration of the release of the New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo decided to team up with actresses Penélope and Mónica Cruz to show off some of the things you can do in the game. The commercial was pretty much just the two of them playing against each other where the loser has to do something as ridiculous as dress up as Mario and ask a grocer for a mushroom in an Italian accent.
All-in-all, it's a pretty decent commercial, but the decision to use these two is still a bit odd. At the very least, they made a pretty convincing performance, which is more than we can say for some of the more recent Nintendo endorsements.
Kim Kardashian and Charmin
Charmin is probably one of the best toilet paper brands in America. They're soft, durable, and come in a variety of styles to suit anyone's needs. But while they are quite good at wiping your bum, that fact alone makes it pretty tough to find the connection between the toilet paper brand and Kim Kardashian. She's famous, has a whole makeup line, and is known for anything but dirty toilets.
So in 2012 when they were opening a new Charmin bathroom in Times Square, it seemed a little bit strange that Kim was the one given the key to open the toilets for the first time.
Ke$ha and LifeStyles Condoms
You probably would have never dreamt up this sort of collaboration even if it is something pretty sensical for the kind of wild parties this girl throws. Still, it's a real thing that came into being for Ke$ha's Get Sleazy Tour where she fired off 10,000 of these specially made condoms. Perhaps the wildest thing about these condoms is her album art for "Cannibal" plastered on the inside...get the joke? She also had this to say about the condoms:
"If you come to a live show, it’s a sensory assault. You will leave covered in sweat, beer, glitter, and, just maybe, you’ll get a special edition Ke$ha condom. If it breaks, you have to name your daughter or son after me," which is probably likely since they were fired out of a cannon.
Lil' Wayne and Strapped Condoms
Ke$ha isn't the only one who got down with some protection. Lil' Wayne also had himself a fling with a condom brand--and then some. During his time with Strapped Condoms, they released some advertisements with Lil' Wayne featured getting arrested for an unexplained reason. But he wasn't going down empty-handed, he was going down strapped, whatever that means. The worst thing about this ad was the way they set the scene here.
Not only did they think that a celebrity rapper getting arrested would be good advertising, but they also had the idea to have him pose like he's, shall we say, using protection. Thi sort of thing probably wouldn't fly today.
Snoop Dogg and Hot Pockets
Hot Pockets are a pretty popular brand of frozen pizza bites in the USA. And like many popular brands in America, there are tons of celebrities who go out and do commercials for those brands. When it came time for Hot Pockets to try to get a larger audience for their frozen food, they decided the best person for the job would be Snoop Dogg. But what came out of it was a bit weird.
The whole commercial was an admittedly clever parody of Snoop Dogg's own song Drop it Like it's Hot and included a variety of celebrity guests, girls, and a dancing hot pocket.
Eminem and Brisk Iced Tea
Hot Pockets aren't the only ones who endorsed a celebrity for one of their commercials. For the 2011 Superbowl, the iced tea brand Brisk hired Eminem to be in one of their commercials. And since it was the Superbowl, they went one step further and made the whole thing into a claymation video. The whole thing was pretty much him just being himself while mentioning the Pepsi Company's iced tea label.
All the way till the end, he's rapping, swearing, and simply yelling at the audience. He then ends it by being told that he can't change his name to something that was endlessly bleeped and says "See? That's why I don't do commercials".
Kris Jenner and Poise Bladder Leak Pads
Who do you think of when you think of feminine care products, or, more specifically, bladder leak pads? We know it's not any of the Kardashians, yet here is Kris Jenner in all her glory posing as Rosie the Riveter. Granted, it's an amazing cosplay, and the message behind women empowerment and reclaiming your femininity despite potential leaks is truly an inspirational one. Still, we haven't a clue why she was chosen for the part.
In an interview, she mentioned that she had done a lot of research and "realized" that Rosie was a strong, powerful woman. No offense, but it only takes one US history class to know that.
Memphis Bleek and Garnier Fructis Shampoo
Rapper Memphis Bleek appeared as himself for a Garnier Fructis commercial where he raps about the beautiful women dancing behind him and how nice it is that his "lady got that silky smooth..." Yeah, it's the classic 200s commercial where they feel the need to objectify women to sell their product. One the one hand, sex does sell, but on the other hand this commercial's target audience was the women themselves.
It seems like a pretty weird way to market a product to women. Objectification never goes well. On top of that, can anyone even tell us who the heck Memphis Bleek even is?
Mikhail Gorbachev and Pizza Hut
Former Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev actually showed up as himself in a pizza hut commercial to promote the brand. In it, a bunch of people notice him walking in and two of them start arguing over how good of a president he really is. They argue freedom and economic chaos, among other things, but then one woman steps up and says they have many things because of him... like Pizza Hut!
Suddenly they are all raising a toast to him with their pizza yelling "Hail to Gorbachev!" The whole thing is just a really strange way to acknowledge the good and bad in the man while simultaneously promoting pizza.
Jamie Lee Curtis and Activia
Who can forget all the years of Jamie Lee Curtis selling us yogurt that makes you poop? The actress spent around seven years on these commercials in between her time on set. Apparently, it helped her "to ameliorate all of that distance from [her] family. It allowed [her] to earn money and stay home". It did all that and prevented us from forgetting the yogurt that helps fix "occasional irregularities".
TAs weird as it was to see her as the poster child for this yogurt, we loved being able to see more of her anywhere, anytime, even if it meant listening to other people's bowel movement stories. And no more occasional irregularities! Thanks, Jamie Lee Curtis!
John Cena and Crocs
Crocs, They're cheap, comfortable, convenient, and totally out of style. Most people who own Crocs are too afraid to admit it, but at the same time, we all know they're useful. Still, we have no idea how John Cena of WWE fame had gotten into advertising these shoes. Maybe they needed the strong manly type to convince us that it was okay for anyone to be wearing these and that they came in many hip styles.
We do have to admit that these slides do look pretty nifty. Well, now that we've said that, we're starting to understand why they chose this man for the job.
John Cena and Fruity Pebbles
Crocs aren't the only things we've seen sponsoring John Cena. He also had quite the thing with Fruity Pebbles cereal. In what seemed to be a competition between him and NBA superstar Kyrie Irving, Cena took the side of Fruity Pebbles while his sudden rival took on the side of Cocoa Pebbles. The whole thing was so strange and it's hard to imagine him actually eating this cereal for breakfast.
For the kids, though, those who are fans of the two of them probably loved seeing them duke it out and rushed to take a stance in the epic fight.
Helen Mirren and Nintendo
The thing about celebrity endorsements from Nintendo is that you're never going to find someone who is an actual good fit for the promotion. That is, of course, they have someone like from inside the company in their commercials, like Reggie Fils-Aimé. But in that case, it wouldn't be a celebrity. That's why when we see someone like Helen Mirren working out on her Wii Fit board we find it kind of hard to believe.
She even says in the commercial that she would have never imagined herself working out through a "video console" and that it makes her feel "modern". Has she never heard of the aerobics videos that were very popular in the late 70s and 80s?
Beyoncé and Nintendo
Even Beyoncé had a thing with Nintendo! Here, she's repping good ol' Rhythm Heaven on a Nintendo DSi. As a musical artist, this is the perfect game to have Beyoncé promote. However, as we were saying, these celebrity endorsements seem so fake. Sure, we did say that Penélope Cruz did a pretty good job of convincing us that she was actually playing the game, but for the most part, they were all pretty unbelievable.
Even watching this, the amount of force she uses to tap the screen with her stylus is painful, to say the least. Though we figure she has enough money to replace the screen anyway.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Facial Fitness Pao
Cristiano Ronaldo may be one of the biggest names in soccer, so to that end, it seems like one Japanese company wanted him to represent their facial exercise device. He appears in the commercial with perfect teeth and an even more perfect smile while showing of the Facial Fitness Pao, a plastic tool with wings that you put in your mouth and shake to flap the wings and supposedly strengthen your facial muscles.
We're not sure if it actually works, but they do look pretty which might fool people into thinking so. Ronaldo wasn't fooled, though, as he's never actually seen using the gear himself.
Various Rappers and Rap Snacks
You may have seen these before, but more likely than not, this is our first time seeing them. These chips, cheese puffs, and other snack packs come in various flavors inspired by the many rappers of our time. It's definitely an interesting concept, and we'd love to get our hands on some time, but we must say that this is a first for us and it's totally bizarre that this is a thing.
Some of the older packages even had quotes like "stay in school" and "education=success" which we find a little outdated. It seems a bit stereotypical to insinuate that being inspired by a rapper might mean dropping out of school.
Waka Flocka Flame and PETA
When we think of PETA, we can only think of all the ridiculous tactics they've used to raise awareness for animal cruelty. Don't get us wrong, it's a good cause, but maybe you should also check out their opinions on video game characters (like Pokémon or animal characters in Smash Bros.) and other controversies like how they were exposed for euthanizing animals. That's why we found this endorsement a bit strange.
We definitely don't think of any famous rappers when it comes to PETA, and what made it weirder was Waka Flocka Flame posing nude for their "Ink, Not Mink" campaign.
Lil' Romeo and ICDC College
For years, there would be all of these commercials for online colleges with some information, compelling deals, and images of people enjoying their time (there may still be, but does anyone still watch cable?). ICDC College is one such college that helps its students earn themselves an Associates Degree in just a couple of years. Somehow, in 2013, they convinced Lil' Romeo to do a commercial for them where he gives a motivational speech in favor of the college.
It's definitely great that there were so many ads compelling kids to further their education, but this commercial seemed little more than a ploy to really get those last few unmotivated people into their school.
Birdman and Lugz
Lugz brand shoes started off strong when they first came out, especially when they landed a commercial with the rapper Birdman. The commercial was simple enough: shoes, chains, cars, and of course, Birdman. Oh, and there were also the shoes. But what was once good soon became defunct as the company determined that the shoes were too similar to other shoes on the market and decided to discontinue them in 2008.
Interestingly enough, that does not stop other shoe companies from selling their products these days. Though maybe they realized there wouldn't be much profit in being just another knock-off brand.
Lady Gaga and Polaroid
Long before the Snapchat spectacles, there was a pair of sunglasses that were capable of being a camera and camcorder all in one piece of gear--the world's first. This was the Grey Line GL20 Sunglass Camera revealed in 2011 by Lady Gaga herself after she became the creative director for the company. They were created totally in the image of Gaga and would probably have been successful too if they had actually been released for retail.
They were capable of sending digital images via Bluetooth to a Polaroid printer or simply retrieved via a USB that was installed in the earpiece. Too bad they never made it to market.
P. Diddy and Proactiv
P. Diddy is one of many celebrities to have used (or at least promoted) Proactiv as a skincare solution. At the time, the product had massive amounts of commercials and it seemed to be working. Many people were buying and using the product, so they must have thought that it would get extra attention to have a random celebrity in their commercials. He did seem to like the product, as he was later filmed drunkenly promoting it.
He said that we all know darn well that Lindsay Lohan and Jessica Simpson were not using the product--at least, not until he was--and that 7 years of use has given him "silky smooth cocoa butter skin".
Nelly and Honey Nut Cheerios
This is actually one we remember from a long time ago, though some of us weren't actually old enough to know who this was. This commercial from the famous cereal brand sees rapper Nelly hanging out all buddy-buddy with Buzz the Bee and after admitting to loving the cereal, he decides that it's time for a makeover for the mascot as he dresses him up in some swag and even gives him autotune.
At the time, we didn't really think anything of it, but looking back at it now this is definitely one of the weirder commercials of our time. Still, we bought into it and had some delicious Honey Nut Cheerios for ourselves.
Method Man and Sour Patch Kids
"Sour. Sweet. Gone." That's the motto of Sour Patch Kids candy. These little things have always been shown to get a little nasty at first, but then they feel bad and try to redeem themselves. After all, "first they're sour, then they're sweet". And like many other food products out there, Sour Patch Kids decided to team up with a rap artist, namely Method Man, to promote their delicious product.
For this commercial, Method Man pretty much raps an original with lyrics describing the type of shenanigans these little creatures will do to you, like trade your Lamborgini for a Volvo. Truly terrifying.
Jackie Chan and Woolworths
You wouldn't think that Jacki Chan needs to be in a commercial for any reason considering the amount of success that he's had over the years, but here he is in a Woolworths commercial. The British clothing company featured him as, well, himself, showing up at home and being pretty much accosted by the puppet mascots of the brand. We don't really understand what's happening in the commercial, but it's more than a bit weird.
They also throw in the classic "Asians all look the same" joke that makes us feel a bit uncomfortable and that was a common trope in many of the 2000s movies he was in.
Brad Pitt and Pringles
Back in the early days of Bradd Pitt (say 240p on YouTube early), Brad Pitt was being cast in all sorts of things, most notably this Pringles commercial in which he pretty much objectifies women the whole time. Ah, yes, the early 2000s where objectification and stereotypical jokes ran rampant. Pretty much the entirety of the commercial promised that you would be able to pick up hot girls in a convertible if you eat Pringles.
We've said it once and we'll say it again: sex sells. However, that doesn't mean that things like this are okay, and we're hoping this is but a small stain on a history that will get better.
Ashton Kutcher and Pop Chips
Unfortunately, before history gets better, we have to take note of some of the other celebrities who did particularly tasteless things for a commercial. Coincidentally, this next one also has to do with chips. Ashton Kutcher took to a commercial for Pop Chips wearing brown face and pretending to be Indian because of course, they couldn't just get a real Indian to be stereotypical (not that that's any better, though).
Honestly, we don't even know how this commercial was able to make it to market. This is the kind of thing that you hire people to tell you to avoid putting on air.
Ozzy Osbourne and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter
In a time when Ozzy Osbourne was still mildly relevant, the I Can't Believe It's Not Butter company decided he would be the best fit to promote the margarine product (though can we really call it that? We saw the ingredients list on one of them and it's basically butter. No wonder we can't tell the difference). It sees him living together with himself while they are using the product to bake.
All-in-all, it's a pretty weird commercial, though this is the guy who bit the head off a bat while he was live on-stage. It can't really get any weirder than that.
Matt LeBlanc and Heinz
Only a few years after the debut of friends, Matt LeBlanc was hired by Heinz to do a promo for their ketchup by bringing a bit of that Joey pizazz to it. After placing a bottle of ketchup on the edge of his roof, he runs down to buy a hot dog and then catches the ketchup perfectly on his hot dog. It's all very cheesy and very 90s which is probably what they were going for.
It all just seems a bit too cool for Joey, however. Not the ketchup trick, that's very him. But the whole thing is jazzy and intimate; the few things he is not.
Hugh Jackman and Litpon
This one is definitely one of the more bizarre ones on this list. With zero context whatsoever, we are introduced to Hugh Jackman lounging in a Japanese hotel. After a few sips of some Lipton iced tea, he and the entirety of the people in the hotel break out into a song and dance that does a pretty good job of making us want a bottle of tea all to ourselves.
But what exactly is the connection to Japan and Hugh Jackman and why were they all ready for a flashmob? Well, we can only answer the last part as being all in his imagination because of how bomb that tea is.
Keanu Reeves and Cornflakes
In yet another very 90s commercial, we bear witness to one of Keanu Reeves' earlier ventures. Long before Keanu received the roles that would shoot him into stardom, he auditioned for a role in a Cornflakes commercial. What was supposed to only be a few seconds landed him the entire commercial as he dances and prepares a huge table for presumably hundreds of guests to enjoy their own bowls of Cornflakes.
He also sneaks himself a bowl, of course. Watching this after all of his movie roles, it seems so weird to watch Keanu so happy-go-lucky about it. We expected a lot more action.
Peyton Manning and Papa John's
Peyton Manning has actually had a couple of stints for Papa John's pizza. The first of which opens up with Manning calling the employee "Papa" and was for a football season's kickoff where Papa John's was giving out 2 million free pizzas throughout the season. The second sees Manning inviting over a horse mascot to a nondescript party where he runs into another mascot and they seem to hit it off terribly.
Suddenly it becomes a pizza commercial and a weird one at that. We're not sure if Papa John's is Peyton Manning's favorite pizza or what, but we wouldn't be surprised if we see him in another one.
Miranda Kerr and Lipton
Hugh Jackman isn't the only one that Lipton hired to promote their iced tea, they also had Australian model Miranda Kerr do a commercial for them. Oddly enough, this commercial for Lipton Limone was also for a Japanese audience (why aren't the English commercials hiring celebrities?). The whole thing also simply involved Kerr lip-syncing to a song with words that rhymed with Limone while she just stood there holding the tea.
She also got to speak a little bit of Japanese, which is definitely pretty cool. Maybe one day we will see these commercials make it over to our Western audiences.
Snoop Dogg and Norton Antivirus Software
Hot Pockets wasn't the last thing we would see Snoop Dogg repping. Norton Antivirus Software teamed up with the rapper to create a "Hack is Wack" contest which saw contestants send in 2-minute rap videos in an effort to raise awareness for the software and hacking attacks (although people were really just in it to win the prize of a free ticket to see one of Snoop Dogg's concerts).
Hot Pockets was one thing, but everyone eats food. Seeing Snoop Dogg team up with antivirus software seemed so out of left field. Though, to be fair, everyone needs some of this, too.
Mohammad Ali and D-Con Roach Traps
This is obviously a much older sponsorship as someone like Mohammad Ali probably wouldn't have needed something like this in his later years, but there was a time where he was both featured on and promoting d-Con roach traps. These traps were meant to kill the insects without the use o any harmful poisons and having his likeness on the box certainly gave the company a good and powerful image.
Although these days we wouldn't exactly think about Mohammad Ali fighting roaches, it is funny to imagine him going toe-to-toe with the creatures. Hey, someone has to and it's not going to be us.
The Flintstones And Winston Cigarettes
While these guys may not be real-life celebrities, there is something that can be said about their status as cultural icons. That's why it made so much sense for the family men (and sometimes women, depending on the commercial) to be smoking up a Winston cigarette during a smoke break. While this is probably the opposite of what we could want these days, back then, seeing your favorite characters smoke these were enough to change a man from his favorite pack.
Still, watching these commercials and seeing these characters we have known forever stick a cigarette in their mouths is one of the strangest things we have seen to this day.