Celebrities are celebrities for a reason. They have a lot of money, a lot of fans, and with that, comes a lot of power. Companies and brands tend to work with celebrities because they know the impact and effect that they have on consumers as influencers. They know that they'll buy whatever their favorite celebrity is selling, so they approach celebrities and their audiences wisely.
Over the years there have been some iconic partnerships between celebrities and a number of brands and companies, however, there have been some partnerships that have been questionable. From Kim Kardashian and Charmin, John Cena and Crocs, to Brad Pitt and Pringles, there have been quite a few strange celebrity endorsements that leave us scratching our heads.
10 Brad Pitt - Pringles
Back in the day, before Brad Pitt was as famous as he is now, he was trying to make a name for himself in the industry, even if that meant taking on strange endorsements. Brad was just 26 years old when he appeared in a commercial for Pringles. Not only is the endorsement confusing, but admittedly, the commercial is a little out there too.
He’s partying with a group of guys, driving down a road when they run out of Pringles. Their car suddenly breaks down and they’re stranded, when they see a group of girls drive by with Pringles. The girls stop and they party together, the commercial ending with the boys’ car being fixed as they drive away, while the girls have a broken down car now. We really don’t know what Brad was thinking by taking on this endorsement, but here we are talking about it decades later, so they did something right!
9 John Cena - Crocs
John Cena is a professional wrestler turned actor and TV personality. He has an immense following of fans, which is most likely why he’s always involved with endorsement deals. One of the weirdest campaigns he was on was one for Crocs, the comfortable but not so cute shoes that everyone seems to have a pair of.
John, being a wrestler, seems to be an odd pick for being the face of a brand like Crocs. The campaign celebrated everyone’s individuality and being a unique person, which could be the reason why Crocs asked to collaborate. It was still pretty weird to us, though.
8 Penélope Cruz - Nintendo DS
Of all the celebrities that could possibly promote a video game, Penélope Cruz definitely wasn’t the first one that came to mind. A few years back, Penélope endorsed the Nintendo 3DS XL along with the game, New Super Mario Bros. 2. The commercial was cute, as she played with the handheld game against her sister, but she ultimately lost so she had to dress up as Mario himself.
It was an adorable commercial and a cute concept, however, to have Penélope Cruz be the spokesperson for a product like this seems like a strange choice to go with, but they picked her nonetheless. Hopefully, she worked out in the marketing campaign.
7 O.J. Simpson - Hertz
Back before the murder trials and all of the drama that ensued before, after, and during, O.J. Simpson took on a lot of endorsements, becoming a spokesperson for a number of companies. Right after he retired from the NFL, one of the companies that he was a spokesperson for was Hertz, which is a rental car company.
O.J. used to be a superstar, so when he became the spokesperson for the company through the 70s and 80s, it was a great business venture for both parties, as sales went through the roof for Hertz. Things were so good that O.J. remained the spokesperson until he went on trial for murder in 1994. Looking back on it now, it would be a strange choice for Hertz as O.J. was literally in a car chase with police, so, not the best PR. He was a good fit at the time, though, so it definitely did work out.
6 Tom Hiddleston - Centrum Multivitamins
Tom Hiddleston stars in a bizarre commercial for Centrum, an American multivitamin company. The commercial is for Chinese television, and it makes you question why he was chosen as a spokesperson, and why they even made this commercial.
It's from the viewer's point of view, as they wake up and head to the kitchen, Tom Hiddleston is there cooking breakfast. He greets the viewer and serves them breakfast and a vitamin before jetting off wherever he's going. It's a bit awkward and very cringey and really makes us wonder why they chose to go in this direction.
5 Justin Bieber - OPI Nail Polish
Back when everyone had "Bieber Fever" it seemed as if they slapped Justin Bieber's face on anything and his fans would buy it. He had a number of endorsements and was a spokesperson for various companies. One brand he was a spokesperson for was Nicole by OPI, a nail polish brand.
He had a line with the brand called The One Less Lonely Girl collection, with some of the colors named after his songs. Even though it seemed strange to have Justin Bieber be a spokesperson for a nail polish brand, it was a good one, because they sold over a million bottles after the line was just released.
4 Snoop Dogg - Hot Pockets
Snoop Dogg being a spokesperson for Hot Pockets doesn't seem very unusual, but in the way he went about it, really kind of is. We all know of Snoop's hit in 2004, "Drop It Like It's Hot," right? Well, someone came up with the idea of taking Snoop's hit song and turning it into a jingle for Hot Pockets.
The ad that ran for Hot Pockets included a spoof of Snoop Dogg's song called "Pocket Like It's Hot," in which the lyrics were changed to fit the brand. The idea was a creative genius or extremely weird, Hot Pockets definitely let that up to viewers to decide.
3 Katy Perry - The Sims 3
Another weird celebrity endorsement was when Katy Perry was a spokesperson for The Sims 3 Katy never really had a connection with the video game world. Up until her collaboration with Electronic Arts, so it seemed like a bit of an odd choice to have Katy involved in an expansion pack for the game.
Katy had a hand in developing several limited-edition expansion packs for the game that were inspired by Katy and her music. The game used her likeness and other Katy Perry related things like her outfits and even created a Simlish version of her song "Hot n Cold."
2 Ozzy Osbourne - I Can't Believe It's Not Butter
Of all the things that Ozzy Osbourne could possibly be a spokesperson for, butter was probably the last thing we would have guessed. Ozzy once did a commercial for I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.
Ozzy and an Ozzy impersonator make a play on the fact I Can't Believe It's Not Butter is a butter "impersonator." We get what they were going for, and we thought that was a rather clever way to market the product. However, butter and Ozzy Osbourne really don't seem to mix, and we're not even sure how the deal came about.
1 Kim Kardashian - Charmin
We all know by now that the Kardashians are willing to endorse almost anything that'll make them a profit. Once upon a time, Kim Kardashian was a spokesperson for Charmin. Yes, that Charmin, the toilet paper with the bears.
There was a time where she appeared in New York City to open public restrooms for holiday shoppers that were sponsored by Charmin. We're not really sure why Kim decided to be a spokesperson for toilet paper, yet she was, and we managed to get some interesting pictures out of the whole ordeal.