Source:www.smh.com.au

I always thought this was the case and now it's a fact that celebrity product endorsements aren't as effective as people think.

Why would anyone care if Naomi Campbell said that you should use Brand X rat repellant? Does anyone believe that celebrities actually use all, if any, of the products they endorse?

OK, I can understand, for example, if Lance Armstrong endorsed a particular brand of bicycle as being a safe product, why people would be influenced. That makes sense.

But by and large, just because a celebrity says you should buy something, people buy what they need, like, or can afford.

Take old time golfer, Arnold Palmer, shown here trying to find his ball after an emergency trip to an on course Porta Potty.

This guy has nearly pre dates the game of golf and has been a product pimp his entire life. When he was in his prime he did so many Pennzoil commercials that they had to give him part of the company, no kidding.

With this ridiculous emphasis on golf and its supposed importance to mankind, something I could never understand, he has been resurrected as the darling of the geriatric set.

I took my mother-in-law to an audiologist last year to have her ears blown out, and I saw a cardboard cutout of Palmer in the waiting room. He's the spokesperson for a particular brand of hearing aid batteries. I guess that why these ads are in print only, these fans can't hear anyway.

Next I took her to the drugstore for her bunion pads and laxatives, and while I was browsing the liquor department, an advertisement for a smoking cessation product started playing over the P.A. system.
Yup, it was Arnie again. Well, I confess, this time I was prompted to make a purchase. I remembered that I was low on smokes.

When I got home and switched on the TV, there was a commercial playing, which of course comprises most of network TV anyway.

There he was again, pushing something else.

My God, give it a rest man, and let some unknown actor or actress make a buck doing these spots!

And while I'm at it, please, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Kelly Preston, cute as you both may be, are you guys really so desperate for attention and cash that you have to do commercials?

Here's the article that confirmed what I have thought for years.