5 Shameless Celebrity Endorsements

Seems like everyone out there’s feeling the recession pinch, even celebrities. What other explanation is there for appearing in horrific commercials like these?

Tim Gunn Comes Clean

It’s a sure sign we’re in a recession when Tim Gunn, who is always the classy voice of sanity on Project Runway, is shilling for Tide.

Buy This Pen…Or Lose Your Life Savings

Some celebrities are not content to simply shore up their bank accounts. No, sometimes they want to spread financial paranoia among the viewers, as demonstrated by this Uni-Ball identity-theft-protection pen commercial, starring Law & Order’s S. Epatha Merkerson.

Sell Yourself and Your Gold

There’s selling out, and then there’s selling everything. Ed McMahon and MC Hammer—the latter of whom had, admittedly, nowhere to fall but up—team up to do a commercial for Cash4Gold.com.

Even Lawyers Are Feeling the Pinch

Her life story won Julia Roberts an Oscar, so what is the real life Erin Brockovich doing in a commercial for Weitz & Luxenberg?

NutriSystem Slims Down Their Budget

Marie Osmond isn’t the first actress to hawk a weight-loss system, but her commercial for NutriSystem has lean production values even for the genre. But hey—it’s a recession.

Bonus: Gielgud Never Did This

John Turturro is no John Gielgud—but he’s no Pauly Shore, either. So why's he pushing beer? What’s next? Dennis Hopper selling out to a financial-planning company? Oh, wait…

Final Thought: The Internet Will Find You

We throw this in as a cautionary tale: two vintage Japanese car commercials, featuring very young Leonardo DiCaprio and Meg Ryan. Tough economic times may go away, but video on the Internet does not.

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