Celebrities and tech have a long and mutually beneficial relationship, from Frank Sinatra and the microphone to Paris Hilton and the infra-red camcorder, but there have been more than a few head-scratching endorsements and odd hook-ups in the past few years.
Below are some of the more notable.
Snoop Dogg pimps out the Samsung Galaxy Indulge
Snoop will put his name to pretty much anything, but at least you can be pretty sure of what you’re going to get out of him: some vaguely amusing patter from a man who appears to be in a permanent state of extreme relaxation (it’s all down to chamomile tea, so we’re told).
Here he promotes the Samsung Galaxy Indulge for US budget carrier Metro PCS, changing his name to Snoop Dogggg in honour of the company’s 4G network.
Will.I.Am becomes Director of Creative Innovation at Intel
When Intel announced last year that it had appointed Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.I.Am as its “Director of Creative Innovation”, it came as a surprise to absolutely no-one in the technology industry.
After all, who better to shape the vision of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer than the man responsible for such works as “My Humps”, “Boom Boom Pow” and “Let’s Get Retarded”?
Will.I.Am seems to have repaid Intel’s faith in him mainly by declaring the ultrabook “the new ghetto blaster”, but according to the company he has consulted with its staff about future uses of its hardware.
Soulja Boy releases an Android tablet
The rapper famous for using $100 bills as handkerchiefs took the next logical step in his career by releasing a 7-inch Android Ice Cream Sandwich tablet.
Tokova’s “Tiger Shark Soulja Boy Edition” costs twice as much as a Nexus 7, at $US399.
George Foreman gets grilling
A countertop grill to help cut down your fat intake? There was nobody better to promote it than George Foreman, whose healthy eating habits allowed him to return to boxing at the ripe old age of 45 – and win the world heavyweight championship.
Foreman actually made more money from his 15-year stint with the “Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine” – an estimated US$200 million – than he ever did from boxing, and sparked a series of copycat endorsements like the Hulk Hogan blender, Evander Holyfield Real Deal Grill and the Ultimate Warrior’s sandwich toaster. We’ve made one of these up.
T-Pain reveals his singing secrets in an iOS app
Auto-tune pioneer T-Pain sings like he’s got a vocoder lodged in his gullet – and now you can too, provided you own an iOS device.
The I Am T-Pain app (£1.99 in the App Store) allows you to record your vocals and have them reworked into a somewhat hilarious robotic style. Before long you’ll be duetting with Lil’ Wayne and “making it rain” on the dance floor of a club VIP area.
Verne Troyer, aka the gadget kiss of death
Austin Powers star Verne Troyer doesn’t have a fantastic track record when it comes to endorsing gadgets.
He first put the weight of his personal brand behind the ill-fated Gizmondo handheld console, then the Klegg Mini, an MP3 player that had the misfortune of going up against the iPod nano. Don’t expect Verne to turn up in Apple’s next Siri ad.
Bill Wyman’s metal detector – can you dig it?
While Keith Richards spends his weekends chugging bourbon, former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman likes nothing better than scrabbling around damp fields digging up Roman coins (“It’s a great hobby,” he says).
And when he does, he uses his own branded metal detector. That’s the true spirit of rock ‘n’ roll.
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand
Blood on the Sand was Fiddy’s second foray into the world of video games, but managed to surpass the earlier 50 Cent: Bulletproof in terms of both ultra-violence and sheer crassness.
The third-person shooter sees 50 Cent and his G-Unit cohorts swearing and slaying their way through a nameless but “stereotypical” Middle Eastern country in pursuit of a priceless Damien Hirst-style crystal skull.
One only for super-fans of the muscular rapper – or lovers of distinctly average games.
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