Sure, it may seem like they live incredibly glamorous lives, but celebrities aren't that different from you and me: we all just need to make a buck!
Celebrities get paid very well for their music, sports careers, performances, movies etc.
They also make a lot of dough with lucrative endorsement deals. Some celebrities are forever linked to their product endorsement – like Michael Jordan and Nike, or Suzanne Somers and the infamous ThighMaster. Great comedians have made hilariously unforgettable commercials like Tina Fey's American Express ads, or Ellen Degeneres's Covergirl ads.
I still laugh when I remember the Superbowl commercial for Snickers featuring Betty White.
Unfortunately, the allure of extra income can backfire and lead celebrities to some incredibly embarrassing moments that may not be worth the risk of the endorsement. For example, Ben Stiller's bizarre Japanese ad. Have you ever seen something so strange?
From political snafus to embarrassing tweets to major lawsuits, we've compiled 30 of our favorite celebrity endorsements that haven't gone as planned. Some may make you laugh, others will make you angry, and a few will make you cringe.
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1) David Beckham ruins his deal with Samsung
A few years ago, David Beckham agreed to be the face of Motorola's Aura phone. In ads he would say, "When you hold it, it feels like you have something really special in your hand." Beckham was greeted with controversy, however, when a paparazzo snapped Beckham texting on an iPhone. When confronted about it, Beckham insisted he was "holding it for a friend." As if that line ever works.
2) Kiss releases the Kiss Kasket
Kiss has never been shied away from putting their band name on all types of products from dolls to pinball machines…and apparently even caskets. This real item was on sale from 2001-2008 and is now considered an collector's item.
3) Oprah plugs the Surface via iPad
This tweet speaks for itself! Oprah had a major technology fail when she plugged the Microsoft Surface as one of her favorite things… From her iPad.
4) Fred Flinstone hocks cigarettes
The Flintstones are synonymous with children's vitamins, but Fred Flintstone also once extolled the virtues of smoking with his good friend, Barney, in this strange vintage commercial.
5) Jean-Claude Van Damme rips apart Total Gym on the set of an infomercial.
The "Muscles from Brussels" faced a multi-million-dollar lawsuit from Total Gym when the action star showed up but refused to film an infomercial for the product. The lawsuit stated that the actor seemed "erratic and chaotic" on set. After a prolonged lunch break, Van Damme quit and dissed the product on his reality show. The lawsuit said the actor accrued a cost to the company of at least 25.2 million dollars.
6) Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino gets offered money to NOT wear Abercrombie & Fitch
Often, celebrities will get paid to wear certain labels and products. Jersey Shore star Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino was offered $10,000 by Abercrombie & Fitch to not wear their clothes in public as they didn't want to be associated with his brand.
7) will.i.am refuses to support his own clothing line.
will.i.am agreed to lend his name and brand to a clothing company that believed the the deal would last until 2016. The musician disagreed and said that he was only obligated through 2012. The clothing company is now demanding 2 million dollars.
8) Kendra Wilkinson launches a "Hottest Waitress of Olive Garden" contest that The Olive Garden wants nothing to do with...
Former Playboy playmate and reality star Kendra Wilkinson tried to make herself an unofficial spokesperson for The Olive Garden, her favorite restaurant. She loved being photographed with bags of take-out, and she would frequently plug the restaurant on twitter. She took it a step into the uncomfortable when she launched a "Hottest Waitress of Olive Garden" contest for Playboy. The restaurant was never comfortable with this celebrity endorsement saying, "it is a complicated issue for the brand."
9) The Kardashians put their name on a predatory credit card...
The Kardashians received a great deal of negative attention when they agreed to get paid to have a predatory credit card named after them. The card, clearly marketed towards young people, featured exorbitant fees like a $100 purchase fee. Due to the extreme backlash, the Kardashians eventually removed their name and the product failed.
10) Lisa Rinna promotes adult diapers...
Lisa Rinna must have really needed the money when she became a spokeswoman for an adult diaper company. The gorgeous actress swallowed her pride and claimed in commercials that she gladly uses the product. However, maybe Lisa knows what she's doing. She's admitted that for every ad she does, Depends will donate to her favorite charity, Dress for Success.
11) Scarlett Johansson endorses a company located on the West Bank
Scarlet Johansson's appearance in a SodaStream commercial during the Super Bowl caused many fans to become irate with the actress because the company's factory is located in the West Bank. She was forced to step down as an ambassador for Oxfam who opposes working with businesses that operate in that area.
12) Lebron James tweets anger over product he sells.
Lebron James was getting paid millions of dollars to promote Samsung products, but he almost lost it after tweeting an angry message about his Samsung crashing. The tweet was quickly deleted and Lebron kept his deal.
13) Shannen Doherty's low-budget commercial
90s kids everywhere were STUNNED when they saw this incredibly low-budget commercial featuring Shannen Doherty promoting an online college. The commercial had many fans concerned about the status of the actress's career.
14) Rachael Ray's Dunkin Donuts ads are pulled over a simple scarf...
Dunkin Donuts was forced to pull a commercial featuring Rachael Ray after conservatives, led by Michelle Malkin, said that the scarf resembled "the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad." Though the company and Ray herself tried to ignore the comments, the company eventually had to cave to appease many vocal protestors.
15) Paris Hilton gets sued for not wearing her own hair extensions.
Hairtech International sued the heiress in 2008 claiming that she had been wearing a competitor's hair extensions and not the ones she was paid to promote. They also brought up the sad fact that she missed the company's launch party because she had been behind bars at the time.
16) Charlize Theron plugs rival watches.
Charlize Theron found herself in hot water after Raymond Weil sued Theron. They claimed that she had signed an agreement to exclusively wear Raymond Weil watches as an international ambassador. However, photographs came into the public eye that showed the actress wearing a Dior watch in Austin, Texas. The designers brought a mega-million lawsuit upon their once-beloved spokesperson.
17) Madonna's 5-million-dollar Pepsi commercial gets pulled.
America was abuzz when Madonna premiered her 5 million dollar Pepsi commercial featuring her new hit "Like a Prayer." However, the commercial was pulled the very next day when her full video was released featuring burning crosses and controversial religious imagery.
18) Ben Stiller appears in bizarre Japanese commercial...
Often, Hollywood stars will refrain from doing American commercials so they don't get a reputation as a "sell-out." They will still do foreign commercials so as to avoid embarrassment. However, it seems like maybe Ben Stiller forgot about YouTube.
19) Nicholas Cage seems unhinged in Japanese ads
We'll just let the actor's Japanese commercial speak for itself… Wow.
20) Jessica Simpson refuses to wear her own clothing line
The Tarrant Apparel Group alleged that Jessica Simpson lost them millions of dollars after she refused to wear her own looks on red carpets and appearances. They claimed that she did not do her part in promoting the clothing, despite the fact that her name was on the apparel.
21) Brazilian Soccer Star Ronaldinho loses Coke endorsement deal when he drinks Pepsi at a press conference.
The Brazilian sports megastar Ronaldinho lost a $750,000 Coke sponsorship after he was seen drinking Pepsi at a press conference.
22) Director Michael Bay storms off stage at Samsung Keynote
The film director appeared at a press conference to discuss the new Samsung curved televisions, but he seemed overwhelmed and unable to form cohesive sentences. After several awkward moments, he apologized and fled the stage. The freak-out got more press than the new TVs.
23) Charles Barkley calls "Weight Watchers" a scam.
Charles Barkley was still able to keep his Weight Watchers endorsement after he was caught saying "I thought this was the greatest scam going — getting paid for watching sports, [but] this Weight Watchers thing is a bigger scam." Apparently, Barkley thought the microphone he was standing near was OFF… But it wasn't.
23) Kim Kardashian endorses a product that doctors call "dangerous."
Kim Kardashian doesn't have a reputation for putting morals and pride above cash money, but thousands were angry at Kim's flippant endorsement agreement with QuickTrim, a dieting supplement that was essentially just a mix of laxatives and diuretics.
25) Snooki gets paid by by handbag designers to carry RIVAL handbags.
Those poor Jersey Shore stars and their endorsement deal dramas. Allegedly, upscale handbag manufacturers paid the reality star to be seen carrying rival handbags instead of their own.
26) Sean Connery reluctantly does a foreign commercial for whiskey.
James Bond is a martini man (shaken, not stirred), but the actor who played him spent many years doing Suntory Whiskey commercials in Japan. The actor, not wanting to appear to be a sell-out, seems reluctant and bored in the commercials as if the gig is far, far beneath him.
27) Bruce Willis releases a "Die Hard" cologne.
The celebrity fragrance has been around for years. My mother was particularly fond of Elizabeth Taylor's White Diamonds, but was the world really crying for a Bruce Willis Die Hard scent?
I guess it's better than the original "The Sixth Sense" cologne which one tester voted down by saying, "I Smell Dead People."
28) Cristiano Ronaldo endorses bizarre face exercise tool.
Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo could probably have his pick of endorsement deals. That's why it's so strange that he chose to participate in a campaign for a Japanese exercise product for building mouth muscles. It's probably worth noting that the star never actually put the product in his mouth so he could avoid maximum embarrassment.
29) Paris Hilton loans her image to a game and doesn't even know its name
Paris Hilton agreed to attach her name to an electronic gaming app for phones called "Jewel Jam" which she embarrassingly called "Diamond Quest" at a tech expo. However, the game company may have been at fault because they printed posters of the previous name rather than the updated one.
30) Snoop Dogg endorses Norton Antivirus. Why?
Snoop Dogg can endorse whatever he wants as far as I'm concerned. I don't exactly think of the rapper as synonymous with protecting my online security, but it's cool.
The fails just keep getting crazier…
