Hollywood stars aren’t above appearing in commercials but there are some truly bizarre Japanese commercials that some of them have been in. For instance, the first one in which Arnold Schwarzenegger is seen emerging from a bottle of what could possibly be an energy drink as his body starts shooting out gold coins. And the gold coins that are bubbling up from below? I think we can agree that we really don’t want to know what’s pushing them up. The second one is Jackie Chan doing what he does best as he seeks to save a bowl of noodles by practicing his customary acrobatics. It almost seems like Brooke Shields couldn’t be bothered to learn a simple phrase in Japanese for a shampoo commercial, but oh well. At least Japanese car commercials seem as pointless as American ones. Then there’s Arnold again for a Cup o’ Noodles commercial in which he seems to be pounding the living hell out of a wad of dough. It just gets weirder as Miles Davis comes on for a tape commercial, followed by Richard Gere playing the piano for an commercial about air travel. Glenn Fry was a favorite it seems for Canada Dry ginger ale, and Greg Norman was popular for beer and for a resort commercial. There have been celebrities of all types it seems that have made their way through Japan.
As if to prove that point Arnold made his way back for a coffee commercial, while George Clooney made his presence known for a beer spot. Elijah Wood was seeing rabbits instead of a dog for a Toyota commercial, while Leo DiCaprio was vamping it for Jim Beam. Hugh Jackman made his way into the commercials for a car commercial, while Bruce Willis made his way into a Diahatsu commercial. Then came an older Richard Gere for a drink spot, while Jean Reno made his presence known for a Toyota ad. Tommy Lee Jones shows up to promote Suntory, while Bruce Willis is back again for a popular coffee ad.
At this point you get the idea that some American actors must get paid really well or are simply fond of doing bizarre Japanese commercials. Arnold Schwarzenegger is in a lot of them, as is Bruce Willis. These might make sense in Japan but in America they’re just flat out bizarre. Plus, seeing Harrison Ford in a gaming commercial seems so out of character that you can’t help but arch your eyebrows. Of course you simply knew that eventually you would see faces like Sylvester Stallone, as it’s kind of natural to see some individuals lumped into a category together simply because, well, just because really. But Japanese commercials, oy, they are somewhat insane and a little out there for the taste of most Americans. This could be why they’re a YouTube sensation really because they are kind of odd and thus stimulate the need for weird that some people seem to have.
In some cases though it seems like the celebrities must have been paid pretty well to do these spots.
