Leno pimping life-loc

If someone offered me money to do a commercial, I would. Why anyone would rely on the word of Jay Leno (or myself, for that matter) is beyond me, but obviously someone is.

 

"businesses within our network". If a business scams you that's not "in their network", they can't help you.

 

In my opinion, being a paid endorser for a product you really believe in is perfectly ethical. I do have a problem with people accepting money to hawk a product they know is worthless.

Just because you believe Leno is "pimping" for a "scam" doesn't mean he sees it that way. Maybe Leno thinks the product is fantastic.

I'm reminded of when I was selling cars for a dealership for a short time way back in '96. I had no trouble selling customers on the new models that I personally liked, but we were expected to be enthusiastic about every car on the lot. At the time, we happened to be over stocked with one specific model because the automaker grossly overestimated demand but the public had no interest. We literally had 35 of these pieces of garbage in our inventory and the dealership management was panicking. They had incentives on them and we were told to hype the cars as much as possible. We weren't supposed to actually lie, but a little embellishment was expected.

I couldn't do it. Not only didn't I push the model but when a customer expressed interest in one I steered them toward something else.

So I got unofficially reprimanded and told to get with the program. I said I didn't feel comfortable doing that and quit.

 

Does he have a fan base to lose?

 

That's never an issue for me because i've never considered fame to be a sign of credibility when endorsing or advocating something. Ive seen Leno' s Life Lock commercials and I don't consider him to be any more or less credible than some random goober off the street.

The exception is endorsements made by famous persons who are also experts in their field. If Geddy Lee sings the praises of a particular bass amp, I'd consider his opinion, but I still wouldn't just take his word that it's really that good.

 

Pontiac Aztek, eh?

 

I'd gladly be a shill for anything for whatever they're paying Leno, and so would you. The conversation goes very differently when you're in front of the man writing the check than when you're considering it hypothetically.

 

Per my previous post, when I quit my sales job because I refused to push sone of the products I believed weren't a good value, I took another job that paid less than half the money per hour.

I'm not here to judge others, but speaking strictly for myself, I've never been attracted to money or material possessions. People have tried to tempt me with both in the past and I've surprised most of them by saying no.

 

this. Lifelock's talent agent was probably given the order to hand over an absolutely ludicrous check.

I've watched a few too many JLG episodes and would love to hear him pimping anything other than Wilwood Brakes and that waterless engine coolant.

 

Nope. I would shill for a lot of things, but not stuff that is actually harmful to most people like the reverse mortgages Tom Selleck is promoting.

 

Here's a good article outlining the negatives: High fees and high interest rates for starters. Oh, and they're almost always aimed at seniors--and yet it's a bad idea to get a reverse mortgage if you have medical bills or your health might require you to move to a different residence, which describes virtually all seniors! And if you can't afford the costs, you shouldn't get one--gee, if you COULD, you wouldn't be thinking about getting a reverse mortgage in the first place!!!
5 Signs a Reverse Mortgage Is a Bad Idea

This is basically a terrible product.

 

We're talking Jay Leno money. You're in a room with someone with a check for Jay Leno money and who knows what might happen to hypothetical principles. This isn't murder for hire. It's shilling crap to rubes who buy crap anyway.

 

That's an interesting hypothetical.

People like me are never offered Jay Leno money because I'm not Jay Leno. I'm just some goober working in a factory.

But if I somehow became famous enough to be offered gobs of money to hawk products I didn't believe in, then it seems likely that I'd either 1) already have gobs of money, or 2) would be able to make gobs of money by means other than hawking products I didn't believe in.



For me the bottom line is that any rich and famous person who could endorse products for large amounts of money, should be able to find something they actually believe in without having to resort to shilling for products they would never use themselves.

Under no circumstances can I picture myself jettisoning my integrity to publicly praise something I believe is garbage.

 

Rationalization. These companies wouldn’t pay big bucks for celebrities to do their ads unless they had evidence they worked.

 

AAG clearly believes that certain celebrity spokesmen bring credibility to their business. Peter Graves and Fred Thompson preceded Tom Selleck.

Selleck’s pitch is especially sketchy because he makes it sound like he’s really personally endorsing reverse mortgages. “I know what you’re thinking. Well I checked it out for you. Trust me.”

The paycheck must be astronomical.