Long before Pierce Brosnan and Pan Bahar there were other Hollywood stars in weird ads

The echoes of Pierce Brosnan’s controversial Pan Masala endorsement don’t seem to be dying out anytime soon. But what Brosnan did was merely an extension of a cultural phenomenon that’s been happening in Japan for many years now: Hollywood’s biggest stars appearing in weird ads for weird products, without any trace of embarrassment.

And we are talking here about stars like Leonardo di Caprio, Brad Pitt, Jodie Foster and Gwyneth Paltrow, who wouldn’t dream of appearing in such advertisements back home in the US, no matter how many million dollars they were offered, for fear of eroding their own personal brand equity.

It all started in the 1970s, when Japanese advertisers first signed up icons like Sean Connery, Paul Newman and Audrey Hepburn to endorse their products. The stars agreed, mainly because Japan was so remote that it ensured that these ads would never be seen by their audiences back home. Besides, the money was good, and given Japan’s inverse consumer psychology, the ads would, in fact, enhance their own star brand among Japanese audiences. It was a win-win-win formula.

Sean Connery:

Paul Newman:

A Japanese colleague once told me that some Hollywood stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger took the additional precaution of inserting a special “secrecy clause” into their ad contracts, to make sure that what happened in Japan, stayed in Japan. In other words, no news of their embarrassing TV commercials would ever leak back to the US. Others, like Meg Ryan, even sued websites for exposing the ads they had quietly made in Japan. It was almost as if they were porn movies.

Arnold Schwarzenegger:

Over the years, an entire A to Z of Hollywood – from Rowan Atkinson to Catherine Zeta-Jones – appeared in a series of bizarre Japanese ads. In fact, Sofia Coppola even made a movie on this theme, Lost in Translation, reportedly based on the bewildering experiences of her father, Francis Ford Coppola, who had done several ads in Japan.

Some of Hollywood’s biggest names made Japanese TV commercials over the years, from George Clooney to Bruce Willis. But for some reason none was more sought after than Arnold Schwarzenegger, who made so many commercials that he earned himself the title of “the king of Japanese advertising”.

Arnold Schwarzenegger (10.36min):

The Japanese advertising market was followed by the Chinese market, as it opened up, with Hollywood stars enthusiastically endorsing Chinese products for the same basic win-win-win combination of reasons: good money, and an enhancement of their personal brand in the local market - without eroding their brand equity in the wider world (although now, of course, with the advent of Youtube, much has changed and there are no more secrets, no matter how embarrassing).

A matter of time

With this kind of history in other major Asian markets, it was obviously only a matter of time before this phenomenon ultimately came to India.

There are various reasons for this, but one of them is the fact that Indian advertisers today often think that getting themselves a famous “Brand Ambassador” is a substitute for a cogently planned brand strategy. Combine this with the stratospheric rates being quoted by Indian stars (who can charge up to $1 million per day), and advertisers might justifiably ask themselves: If we’re paying so much, why not get ourselves a Hollywood star instead?

The process seems to have picked up momentum of late, with Micromax signing up Hugh Jackman, Tata signing up Lionel Messi and, of course, Pan Bahar signing up Pierce Brosnan.

Unfortunately, things haven’t exactly turned out the way they should have, so far, what with the Pan Bahar controversy, and Lionel Messi suddenly being sentenced to jail for tax evasion (much to Tata’s embarrassment). But regardless of these setbacks, given the experience in other Asian markets - and given the inevitable global shifts in economic growth - we can expect to see a lot more Hollywood stars as Brand Ambassadors for Indian brands in the future.

So where do we go from here?

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie may no longer qualify to endorse Fevicol, but we might well see Johnny Depp endorsing a re-launched Old Monk rum.

Or Matt Damon endorsing Thums Up.

Or Vin Diesel endorsing Royal Enfield.

Or Daniel Craig endorsing Dabur Chyawanprash.

Or – who knows? – maybe even George Clooney endorsing Fair & Handsome.

After all, it’s an increasingly globalised new world.

Anvar Alikhan is Senior VP & Strategy Consultant, J Walter Thompson. The views expressed here are strictly his own.