bdonovan
07-24-2016, 03:09 AM
Just saw an ad for "The General" insurance on TV starring Shaq. My first thought was: Didn't Shaq earn enough in his playing career and endorsements to not have to do this? This view was compounded after the ad:
- Made fun of Shaq's poor free throw shooting
- Had "The General", a cartoon character mascot, bounce a ball of Shaq's head for no particular reason (the footage seems to have a real ball bouncing of Shaq's head).
"The General" is not exactly a household name insurance. It seems to be one of those companies that gets customers through late-night advertising. The ad itself has really poor production values. The end of the ad has Shaq looking silly riding shotgun while "The General" drives a car. You can see what I mean here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frksBYGRjGs) (this wasn't the actual ad I saw on TV but it's close)
I can understand Shaq earning whatever he does as a commentator/TV analyst- that is an interesting and high visibility position, whether he needs the money or not. But filming this kind of degrading commercial, despite his earning $290M from his playing salary (http://www.therichest.com/celebnetworth/athletes/nba/shaquille-oneal-net-worth/) alone, seems like an unfortunate choice.
- Made fun of Shaq's poor free throw shooting
- Had "The General", a cartoon character mascot, bounce a ball of Shaq's head for no particular reason (the footage seems to have a real ball bouncing of Shaq's head).
"The General" is not exactly a household name insurance. It seems to be one of those companies that gets customers through late-night advertising. The ad itself has really poor production values. The end of the ad has Shaq looking silly riding shotgun while "The General" drives a car. You can see what I mean here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frksBYGRjGs) (this wasn't the actual ad I saw on TV but it's close)
I can understand Shaq earning whatever he does as a commentator/TV analyst- that is an interesting and high visibility position, whether he needs the money or not. But filming this kind of degrading commercial, despite his earning $290M from his playing salary (http://www.therichest.com/celebnetworth/athletes/nba/shaquille-oneal-net-worth/) alone, seems like an unfortunate choice.