17 Weird Musician Endorsements

At what point does a musician’s desire for a few extra bucks lead them to qualify for a list of “weird musician endorsements”? Who knows! (Equally baffling is why the hell I decided to compile this list.)  You can understand them getting behind instruments – and I guess alcohol isn’t really too much of a stretch (unless you get the timing wrong), but some of this stuff? Still, there’s a fair bit of entertainment in checking these ones out.

1. John Lydon for Country Life Butter
Without a doubt this is my favourite of the lot. Lydon never gets the credit he deserves as a character actor – because wasn’t that what Johnny Rotten really was? Still weird to see him do this though!!

2. Chuck Mangione and Ella Fitzgerald for Memorex
Awesome ‘70s cheesiness! Good thing these two had the musical talent to build their careers on, ‘cos acting wasn’t a strength…

3. Iggy Pop for Swiftcover.com
Now here’s a great performance – and apparently the ad campaign worked a treat too. The puppet is truly weird though.

4. Mary J. Blige for Burger King
Burger King had to pull this ad when people felt it was taking off an African-American stereotype…

5. Warren G for Affirm XL
Pretty much tops the list for weirdness I’m afraid – both Warren G’s decision to promote this product, and the way they’ve done it!

6. Bill Wyman for the Bill Wyman Metal Detector
Why a metal detector? Surely Bill Wyman must have better things to do with his time??

7. Ozzy Osbourne for I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter
Butter and rock stars come up again… truly strange.

8. Bob Dylan for Victoria’s Secret
This is a bit creepy, and seems to be more about getting Bob into the ad than selling any kind of endorsement.

9. Jennifer Lopez for Fiat
Sorry, but I just can’t get myself to believe that J-Lo drives this car… ever.

10. Eric Clapton for Michelob
Here’s where an alcohol ad can go wrong. The problem with this one is that Clapton went into rehab right around the time this ad was released and Michelob had to immediately cancel the campaign!

11. Alice Cooper for Sky
Another head-scratcher… why Alice Cooper, and even more to the point why did they team him up with Ronnie Corbett?

12. Nelly for Honey Nut Cheerios
As weird as this is, I don’t mind it – at least it’s trying to sell something with good celeb integration.

13. Iggy Pop for Swiftcover.com (take 2)
This campaign was so good it’s worth another dose.

14. Snoop Dogg for Hot Pockets
Hot Pockets wanted his song for their campaign, but he took it much, much further!.

15. Method Man for Sour Patch Kids
Not exactly an ad, but a weird piece of product placement!

16. Alice Cooper for Staples
Yep, that Cooper bloke doesn’t mind earning a few extra bob. Hat’s off to him for having a good sense of humour though.

17. David Hasselhoff for Lean Pockets
We’ll let the Hoff qualify as a musician here simply so you can take a look at him playing a weird German version of himself!!

There are probably a bunch more of these floating around – let me know if there are some more good ones to add to this list.