h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think it's fair to say that a celebrity can't make you want to bank with a certain bank/drive a certain car/drink a certain drink but what they can do is help change your perception of the product they are helping advertise.

A prime example is Johnny Vaughan and Strongbow ... nobody dared drink (except we hardy few) until Johnny Vaughan, lad and all time superhero suddenly deemed it alright - cue Sales of Strongbow through the roof ...

There are of course brands for which advertising is little more than a chance to show off ... Guinness, Mercedes to name a couple ... a bloke with a squint in speedos is hardly going to make me want to drink ... this is beyond advertising - it's "look at us, aren't we fab"

The one thing I really can't abide is Geoff from B & Q telling us about their new range of Garden Furniture ... any ads that feature members of the public (yes that includes you Howard from the Halifax) should be liable to a fine.

I'm sure I've got more to add but the fact is I need lunch ...

I think some celebs should look very hard at some of the products they endorse.
Firstly, sports stars, particularly footballers. The ads are almost intentionally aimed at the young and easily impressed.I've run the imperial mile in under four minutes and in my opinion Lucozade isn't just a pile of junk it's a pile of expensive junk.
Secondly, ads aimed at the elderley. Yes this means you Gloria, Carol and Frank. These people actually go as far as to give their personal recommendation. That is not advertising it is endorsing. If the products fail to satisfy they should be in the first row for litigation.

I'd rather watch a celeb on an ad than a member of Joe Public. I pay my Tv license to watch proffesionals, not amateurs. It's the same reason that I don't watch docu-soaps.

I'm not so sure about celebrities. I recently read an advert, which was endorsed by Philipa Forester. It claimed she was a 'technology expert'. Though anyone who watch Brass Eyes and heard her talking about a sonic phallus that can be created from computer monitor would think her anything but.

Celebrities engender a false sense of security. The familiarity alone is enough to sell most people on the credibility of the product. Easy money for the celebrity, and I guess it's a sorry indictment of the general populous.

I can not believe advertising is anything else but a cynical ploy to increase revenue. I've just returned from the States where they have adverts on the floors on supper markets and on the sides on shopping carts. Adverts on the bottom right corner of the TV screen during a film (advertising forthcoming programmings). Mind you, there TV is awful in general. I can't blame it all on the ads.

Being a part of North American television (the Northern Poorer Cousin)as a production cameraman who helps make some of those dreadful ads, I find myself torn. Personally having met some of the celebs who push product, I would never buy it because they say they like it. There is only one exception, if the advert is clever and makes me think or laugh. I can't believe that anyone over 19 could possibly be star-struck enough to buy on the word of someone who is being paid to like something. As to North American television, don't paint it all with the same brush. It's majority of utter rubbish is only due to the enourmous amount of programming available. Given that I can choose from 65 channels of 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from my basic cable service (the number increases by a factor of 3 for a little more money) it stands to reason that the majority of the programming is trash. Add to that the cheap cost of a television, the idea in a lot of parents' minds that it is a babysitter, and the MTV generation and it is one gigantic billboard for the masses with pablum in the intervals.

I'm not proud of some of what I do but generally I do make choices I can talk about with some satisfaction. Television commercials now have national and international awards, I hope that is a good sign.