The Most Absurd Celebrity Endorsements of the 1980s That Companies Want You to Forget

The 1980s were a decade that is the epitome of consumer culture, an era dominated by neon lights and excess. Television advertising was a force to be reckoned with, becoming something completely inescapable. In a crowded media landscape, you need something to stand out. Now celebrity endorsements are nothing new, and they took off during the 1980s. The pairing might not make sense, but it might be enough to drive sales.

Michael Jackson transformed Pepsi into a cultural phenomenon. There was understandably a darker undercurrent bubbling beneath the surface. Legitimate Hollywood icons, counter-cultural legends, and serious artists left quite a few consumers scratching their heads. More than 40 years on, in some cases, those same companies that drafted contracts might want you to forget they were ever advertising with certain celebs. Today, we’re taking a deep dive into the most bizarre endorsements you’ll find.

Frank Sinatra

You didn’t get cooler than Frank Sinatra during the mid-century period. He was the Chairman of the Board. He wore tailored tuxedos, rubbed elbows with powerful people, and was an icon of luxury lifestyles. Oddly, during the late 1980s, he teamed up with a rather unlikely partner to make the rounds on television ad spots. The marketing executives at Burger King decided Frank Sinatra was the ideal person to sell cheap hamburgers and French fries.

1988 saw Burger King introducing their Chicken Tenders. Ol Blue Eyes himself was the spokesperson for the advertising campaign. Commercials came with a reworked version of “All of Me”, with rewritten lyrics reflecting the chicken tenders being sold by Burger King. There is a level of absurdity here that takes on an almost physical level of palpability. Commercials didn’t feature Sinatra sitting at Burger King.

Instead, footage of Sinatra performing on stage was cut together with images of fast-food dipping sauces. You can find the ad on YouTube right now, and it’s every bit as absurd as you might think. Seeing a legendary crooner belt out with the same level of gravitas and panache toward fried chicken as any of his major hits is a bit jarring. The campaign wasn’t as popular as you might think, and was quietly phased out. There wasn’t a point where a star was too big, especially with the rise of fast food.

Orson Welles

Cinema’s infant terrible, and one of the most celebrated actors and directors in Hollywood history, Orson Welles is best known for Citizen Kane, often called one of the greatest films to be made. He was a fierce intellectual, a firebrand of a theater director, and a man who loved art. By the late 1970s and 1980s, Welles’ star had fallen considerably. He found himself running short on cash to complete things like low-budget independent film projects. Sadly, this saw Welles peddling cheap wine from Paul Masson.

The wine commercials themselves have become something of a meme, thanks in part to the increasingly eccentric, obviously drunk takes from Welles. Oddly, this wasn’t Welles’ strangest corporate pairing during the decade. The famed director also contributed voiceover work for Darkie toothpaste in Asia, and one of the weirdest television spots in the UK for Carlston beer.

This all reached a peak with Welles lending his booming, dramatic voice to commercials for Findus frozen foods. You can find outtakes from these recording sessions, and they’re certainly worth listening to. Welles argues with the director over the pacing of lines for burgers and fish. He laments spending years in the theater, only to be told how to pronounce words. It’s honestly quite striking to see one of Hollywood’s most notable directors being reduced to ad spots for microwaveable meals.

Johnny Rotten

John Lydon was best known to the world as the frontman of anti-establishment punk firebrands The Sex Pistols. Years were spent as the ultimate rebel, a snarling, sneering face against the powers that be. Lydon was the man who spat at the thought of the British monarchy, swore on live television, and threatened to disrupt social order with his antics, as a literal poster boy for anarchy.

Oddly, the United Kingdom got to see him in a whole different light when Lydon started advertising for Country Life Butter. Commercials featured Lydon dressed in an old-fashioned tweed suit, wandering through the idyll of the British countryside. The punk frontman talked to mechanical cows, explaining with his sarcastic drone why he enjoyed Country Life Butter because it tasted good, not because it was British. The whole affair was quite tongue-in-cheek and might have worked well during the 1990s.

The punk scene wasn’t quite so understanding when it came to Lydon selling out. Lydon argued that he used his funds for true art, taking the proceeds from the advertisements to fund a tour for Public Image Ltd., his post-punk band. It’s mostly been swept under the rug over the last few decades. That said, I can’t think of a stranger celebrity endorsement, especially for someone so outspoken about his thoughts.

Leonard Nimoy

Mr. Spock, the half-Vulcan science officer aboard the Enterprise, was a fan favorite on Star Trek. Leonard Nimoy, who portrayed him, spent years deeply tied to the persona, much to his consternation at times. A series of films brought the original series back into the limelight, and Mr. Spock was a favorite once again during the 1980s. Hoping to capitalize on the popularity of these films, National Car Rental decided to make the most of it and recruited Nimoy for a series of television ads.

Nimoy was dressed in full Star Trek attire, complete with the pointed ears and his bowl haircut. The juxtaposition and fish-out-of-water nature of these commercials were part of the appeal, with Mr. Spock speaking to an unfazed rental clerk. Nimoy simply attested that National was the most logical choice for renting a car.

It was a lazy concept. There was no meta-context to be had, no world building, no suspension of disbelief for the viewer. Potential renters were asked to simply agree with an actor best known for a TV show during the 1960s standing at an Ohio airport car rental desk. The company might have aimed for reliability and dependability, and it just came across as painfully unimaginative and lazy.

Mr. T

If there is one person who is the spokesperson for the 1980s, given their sheer popularity, it has to be Mr. T. He came with a mohawk haircut, gold chains, and a handy catchphrase. Mr. T was a walking, talking cartoon character, and he had mass appeal across a wide group of people. He ended up with a Saturday morning cartoon, a cereal, and a role on the hit show The A-Team. Mr. T ended up on everything from lunchboxes to public service announcements.

The most baffling endorsement came when Mr. T teamed up with Comcast and the American Gas Association to extol the virtues of natural gas heating. Commercials featured Mr. T standing next to a water heater. He’d glare at the camera, flex, and talk about how much money you could save when switching from electric to natural gas.

There is a mismatch of energy, with Mr. T looking like he’s about to square off with a bad guy or something. This is classic 1980s advertising. If you needed to point to the energy of the decade, having a man like Mr. T glower at homeowners to get them to switch up their utilities is the 1980s distilled.

Conclusion

It’s easy to point and laugh at the celebrity endorsements with the benefit of a modern viewpoint. Today’s endorsements are engineered to feel authentic. The 1980s operated under a different set of rules, and the budgets swelled to capitalize on the relaxed restrictions. You certainly have to admire that these celebs were willing to take part in the spectacle for a payday.

The image featured at the top of this post is ©English: Photograph by Capitol Records, per a credit found in the 1959 edition of the International Celebrity Register at page 696. No known source credits an individual photographer. / Public domain – License / Original