Part V of Travels: Celebrity Endorsements

Celebrity endorsements are nothing new to us in America but in Japan it's a whole other ballgame. I've heard how many celebrities endorse products in Japan but when I went I was still pretty surprised by how many "A-list" celebrities are selling stuff there. What are your opinions on celebrity endorsements? I don't mind them, although having my favorite celebrity be a spokesmodel for something doesn't make me want to buy it anymore. We all know they probably didn't use that product before they were being paid millions of dollars to pretend they do. Cough, P. Diddy/Jessica Simpson/Lindsay Lohan for Proactiv, cough.

I'm used to seeing Scarlett Johansson as the face of Louis Vuitton and I think she does a fantastic job at it. However, I was pretty surprised to see her as the spokesperson for this random Japanese coffee brand. Sorry the pictures aren't great, can you tell this is her in the commercial?



Here is Jennifer Lopez selling some shampoo.


I know of Samantha Thavasa only because I heard how Nicky Hilton designed a line of purses for her (ugh, I hate the Hiltons, but I digress). It says Samantha Thavasa New York but have you ever seen her purses in the US? SOOO many brands in Asia, Europe, etc . .put New York or Los Angeles in their names but they don't sell them in the US!! But that's a topic for a different entry. Anyways, apparently a bunch of celebrities design purses for this brand and are on their billboards. If you check out their website you can see better pictures and the products. Honestly, I didn't really like their products very much, it was a little too Clarie's/Forever 21 at 10 times the price. They wouldn't let me take pictures of the store inside so I did my best.

Here's the Hilton sisters and Penelope Cruz and her sister.


We also have Victoria Beckham and Wimbledon champ Maria Sharapova.


Here's the outside of the store.


Here we have Brad Pitt and Cameran Diaz selling cell phones for a company called SoftBank. This place really loves Cameran Diaz, she's all over their buildings.


This is a kind of cool and creative way to do it. It looks like a bunch of skateboards.

They're also in commercials. I couldn't find Brad Pitt's but here's Cameran Diaz's for your viewing pleasure. It's weird how they made her a suburban mom since that is not her movie or celebrity image at all.


SoftBank does have some pretty cool phones in SO many different colors. This was my favorite, the screen goes from horizontal to vertical!