Movie Star Endorsements

Movie goddess Julia Roberts has just pocketed a cool $1.6 million for her latest screen appearance. Given she's one of the world's highest-paid movie stars, it might seem like a trifling amount, until you consider she wasn't required to deliver a single syllable of dialogue, and she graced the screen for about 45 seconds. Nope, we're not talking about the trailer for Eat Pray Love, we're talking about...coffee.

The people at Lavazza apparently thought nothing of giving Roberts $35,000-a-second to spruik their brew in a TV commercial that's due to air in Italy over the festive season. That's $35 for every millisecond of Julia Roberts. Sure, the caffeine-loving actress's billion-watt smile is the high point of an otherwise dull sales pitch (though I must admit I don't speak Italian), but is it really worth .035c per microsecond? Apparently so.

The Oscar winner is the latest in a growing line of superstars to play barista to TV audiences around the world. George Clooney and John Malkovich seem to have a thing for Nespresso, while screen legend Al Pacino reckons he just can't function without regular doses of Vittoria coffee. Brad Pitt's advice to the Japanese? Get some Roots Coffee into you!

Interestingly, while today's movie greats are happy to put their names and faces to (let's be honest) rather unexciting products, it seems they don't want their American fans to know about it; they're scared of being deemed sell-outs. So, for the most part, their promotional skills are strictly for the consumption of non-English speaking markets – and it sure seems worth it. Bruce Willis was reportedly paid $16 million to be the face of Poland's Sobieski Vodka. Apparently, though, the cash wasn't his prime motivation for the role. "I am very selective about what products I choose to associate myself with," said Willis. "Sobieski Vodka impressed me because of its quality, authenticity and affordability," he added.

Poland-Schmoland, Bruce. The prime destination for any movie-star-cum-salesperson worth their salt is Japan. Hands down. Cameron Diaz, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dennis Hopper, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meg Ryan and even the late, great Audrey Hepburn are among the cavalcade of stars who've lapped up the yen from Japanese advertisers. It's a career move that's become so clichéd over the years that it formed the basis of 2003's Lost In Translation, which examines the relationship between a young newlywed, Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), and washed-up Hollywood star Bob Harris (Bill Murray) who meet at a hotel in Japan while he's filming a Suntori whisky commercial.

''Charlotte: "So, what are you doing here?"
Bob Harris: "Uh, a couple of things. Taking a break from my wife, forgetting my son's birthday. And, uh, getting paid $2 million to endorse a whisky when I could be doing a play somewhere."''

But for all their sneaking off overseas, the most famous criticism of Hollywood spruikers has come from within their own ranks. Dismayed that actors were damaging the nobility of his lofty craft by flogging cars, booze and coffee, Russell Crowe went on the offensive in 2005. "I believe if you take on characters for a living you can't make yourself into an icon in order to sell a pair of shoes," thundered the Gladiator star. Wounded and clearly unimpressed, Clooney responded by suggesting Crowe stop using his celebrity to promote his band, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts.

In all honesty, though, I reckon it'd take more than one Oscar-winner to move many of these units.

How about you? Have you ever bought a product purely because a movie star endorsed it? Share your thoughts below.