Cashing in on Fame

Posted by Cynical Sarah on September 10, 2007

There are many, many, many – well, too many really – examples of celebrities of all kinds who have cashed in on their fame to add a little more to their fortunes.

Somehow one of the “greatest” Super Bowl commercials of all time, according to one of those random ranking shows that comes out each year as the sports world gears up for the big event, is a coke commercial featuring Mean Joe Green.

Michael Jordan has hawked everything from shoes to underwear when he wasn’t busy with his basketball or baseball playing careers.

There’s also the various Cover Girl representatives, or Guess, or Candies shoes.

It seems that celebrities are pretty much willing to sell themselves for all sorts of cash – or to just erase debt. It’s a little bit of an extreme example, but Pamela Anderson’s recent admission that she used “sexual favors” to erase a poker debt is a little telling that perhaps people don’t know what boundaries they should follow these days in using their fame and fortune to their advantage.

The story is simple. Pammie was in Las Vegas playing a little poker and got in a little over her head. She obviously hasn’t learned much from opening up her own online poker site. Though it was a brief career as a the sponsor of a sight. She also hasn’t picked up much poker skills from hanging around the likes of some of the game’s biggest and most famous players.

She got herself up to nearly $200,000 in debt, and when another player offered to erase the date for certain “favors,” she agreed.

I’m pretty sure that’s prostitution under the letter of the law, but setting that aside for now, not only was it a ridiculous use of her fame and reputation to her advantage, she also now considers it a “romantic” moment because she and her poker savior are now “in love.”

I think we can officially say that the ex Mrs. Tommy Lee and ex Mrs. Kid Rock has officially jumped the shark at this point. Her life has taken a turn so ludicrous that only she is taking this new relationship seriously. The rest of it are watching her like she’s a train wreck waiting to happen.

All the warning signs are there. It’s like when Britney Spears’ life took a turn for the insane. America’s favourite jail bait started getting caught smoking and drinking and not to mention drinking a Coke even though she was the official Pepsi whore spokesperson.

Then came the crazy Vegas marriage to her high school friend. Then came the crazy marriage to K-Fed. The signs of decline were everywhere for the Pop Princess.

Now Pammie is showing those same signs. Bouncing from crazy rocker to crazy rocker was amusing for a while. Even her television shows were palatable as she used her “assets” to her best advantage in Baywatch and Stacked.  It’s one thing to use yourself to hawk a product or a show – even Brad Pitt has been the face of a product or two for a little cash – but to give it up to pay off a poker debt is going a tad too far.

There’s a big different between attention whore and just plain whore. Take note, Ms. Anderson.

- Sarah L. Polson

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