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A trope that exists in the behavior of celebrities (actors/singers/etc.), and is also picked up readily by those in the industry and [[Truth in Television|reflected in the works they make]]: A celebrity goes over to Japan, possibly somewhere else, and then does a fairly embarrassing job clearly made only for the cash and in the belief that, due to the language barrier and the lack of appeal of a [[Widget Series]], nobody back home will see it.
If it ends up on YouTube, it quickly becomes an [[Old Shame]], which is why many have it written into their contracts that they can't have it be spread around. The term itself is a
Compare [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff]].▼
▲Compare [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff]].
{{examples}}
== Advertising ==
* [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] is practically the God-King of this trope, as he did more than [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcfI0gf9oDc 30 advertisements], from energy drinks, noodles and beer to cars, DirecTV and anti-piracy. Schwarzenegger was one of the first celebrities to take advantage of this phenomenon, and many others followed suit.
* Ben Affleck did a L'Oreal ad in the UK that featured the line, "Here comes the SCIENCE!", which got discovered by [[Fark]] and became the [[Trope Namer]] (well it defined the form) for [[Here Comes the Science!]].
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* [[David Bowie]]'s done U.S. and U.K. ads (MTV, Pepsi, XM Satellite Radio), but in addition to those...
** In Japan, his 1980 ad for Jun Rock sake featured an original instrumental, "Crystal Japan", that became a Japanese A-side and U.K. B-side.
** In Italy, he did an ad for Vittel bottled water in 2003...and, with some reediting and a different song, it became the U.S. ad for his album ''Reality''!
* [[Harrison Ford]] in a series of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJuC9pGR4zE Japanese ads] for ''[[Uncharted]] 3''.
* [[Jean Reno]] did a commercial for a canned coffee drink in full Viking regalia, including [[Horny Vikings|a horned helmet]].
** Reno did it again, but this time playing ''[[Doraemon]]'' of all things to promote Toyota's "Fun To Drive Again" series of ads where it shows the Doraemon characters 20 years later. Reno appears in 2 of 3 ads so far in the series. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120718081003/http://kotaku.com/5900234/jean-reno-makes-a-great-anime-cat/gallery/1 See the ads here.]
* Kiefer Sutherland of ''[[24]]'' has starred in a series of Jack Bauer-themed commercials for Calorie Mate nutritional supplements, where he plays the part of the grizzled agent while maneuvering through schoolgirls on a crowded subway car or disarming bombs in downtown Tokyo. This also appears to be the sole reason why Carlos Bernard made an [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvzyeFhCfTg appearance] on a Japanese comedy show as Tony Almeida.
* American soccer player Landon Donovan made some ads [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6Dz0wD1jeQ for a sports-based lottery in Mexico].
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* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU6X6ohNM3w A yogurt ad] manages to have [[Sean Connery]] singing with a rabbit in a sports car.
* The series of ads promoting Suntory Whiskey (immortalized in the film ''[[Lost in Translation]]'', seen below) used various Western celebrities, including [[Sean Connery]], [[Francis Ford Coppola]], [[Keanu Reeves]] and several others extolling the virtues of foreign whiskey while mugging for the camera and making complete fools of themselves.
* Aside from his involvement in the aforementioned Suntory Whiskey ads, [[Tommy Lee Jones]] has shilled for [http://a7.idata.over-blog.com/600x450/0/38/57/25/divers-04/Divers-1/Tommy-Lee-Jones-Boss-01.jpg Boss]{{Dead link}} coffee. The people of Japan recognize that Jones is, indeed, the Boss.
** He's also been [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39MILG4txBk an alien observing life on Earth], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PavXczeV5JM airport security] and a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQdtOzwRbWk rice farmer].
* An extensive number of celebrities have shilled for various Japanese energy drinks over the years.
** [[John Travolta]] shilled for Tokyo Drink during a commercial campaign in the early 80's, complete with embarrassing dance moves and a faux-workout routine.
** [[Ben Stiller]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bW_cHfnOXM&feature=related humiliated] himself during a commercial for Chill Energy Drink, yelling in overdubbed Japanese about how fresh it is.
* The cast of ''[[Twin Peaks]]'' once did a Japanese advert for Georgia coffee, which is coffee in a can.
* Former Soviet premier [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], of all people, appeared in a commercial for Pizza Hut in the States and other countries. Given that he used to head the [[Soviet Union]] and all, it was seen as greatly ironic and embarrassing for him to shill for a capitalist company and thus espouse consumerism. He did however explain in a ''New York Times'' interview that he did it to [[Money, Dear Boy|fund his research foundation]], and that the capitalist irony didn't matter as the product he was shilling is "a people's matter" regardless of political ideology, i.e. food. The commercial was never shown in his native Russia especially as he is quite unpopular there.
== Film ==
* ''[[Lost in Translation (film)|Lost in Translation]]'' uses this for Bob Harris's reason to be in Japan. He's there doing an ad for Suntory whiskey in a job that he in no way has any reason for being chosen for other than for being a recognizable face. His wife keeps phoning him about carpet samples and paint colors so it's implied that he's building a house which is probably why he's doing it. The depressed funk he gets from the debasement is a large part of the entire theme of the film (note that [[Sofia Coppola]]'s father, [[Francis Ford Coppola]], did in fact [[Truth in Television|do this with Suntory ads in Japan]], as did Sean Connery, who gets referenced a few times in the movie).
* Referenced in ''[[Mean Girls]]'', although the character appears to consider it unequivocally cool:
{{quote|"I hear
== Live-Action TV ==
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* In one episode of ''[[Leverage]]'', part of Elliot's cover is a (fake) Japanese energy drink commercial that Hardison whipped together.
* ''The Big Book of [[Top Gear]]'' features [[The Faceless|The]] [[Memetic Badass|Stig]] in one such ad.
* On ''[[Would I Lie to You?]]'', one of Jimmy Carr's lies was that he'd done a commercial for snuff (of all things) in Japan.
* ''[[30 Rock]]'' has Jenna doing one of these ads for a Japanese energy drink. It involves a random face punch.
* In ''[[Hot in Cleveland]]'' Victoria dreams of the day that she's achieved enough fame that she can sell out for a boatload of money. She ends up doing a commercial for adult diapers. (They preserve the freshness of crotch!)
* Conan O'Brien did a [[Super Bowl Special]] commercial for Bud Light, where he did an embarrassing ad in Sweden which got released in the United States. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d13MkCDNKlo ].
** He would also use the above Schwarzenegger ads for clips for ''Late Night With Conan O'Brien''.
* On ''[[Don't Trust the B----
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== Web Original ==
* http://www.japander.com/ is a Web site devoted to cataloging these.
* ''[[Cracked.com]]'' has a [https://web.archive.org/web/20131122055117/http://www.cracked.com/funny-3966-japanese-commercials/ topic page on Japanese commercials], as well as list articles focusing on with [http://www.cracked.com/article_17080_8-humiliating-japanese-ads-starring-oscar-nominees.html Oscar nominees] [http://www.cracked.com/article_14924_the-5-most-ridiculous-celebrity-cameos-in-japanese-ads.html celebrity cameos].
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zb6fKHYCwA This gem] from ''[[The Meth Minute 39]]'' parodies the concept.
* ''[[The Onion]]'' parodies this by having [[Barack Obama]] appear [http://www.theonion.com/articles/obama-earns-money-for-us-by-appearing-in-japanese,21292/ in a Japanese advertisement] to earn money to help the U.S. economy.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Advertising Tropes]]
[[Category:
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