Once upon a time, slapping a movie star’s face on your product was like printing money. It didn’t matter if they knew what they were selling. If George Clooney looked at the camera and nodded while holding a coffee, the masses followed. But now? Followers are vanishing, engagement’s tanking, and celebs are starring in ad campaigns that feel less like “blockbusters” and more like experimental student films gone wrong.
There’s been a cultural shift. We still binge their shows, dissect their red carpet drama, and quote their one-liners. But trusting them to pitch stuff? That era might be over. Especially when some of Hollywood’s biggest names are stumbling into partnerships so bizarre, they read like Mad Libs gone rogue.
Let’s dive into the scene of the crash.
- From Oscar Winner to Crypto Punchline
Matt Damon once had America sobbing in Good Will Hunting and launching spy theories during The Bourne Identity. Then he showed up in a glossy Crypto.com ad saying, “Fortune favors the brave,” and the internet collectively facepalmed.
Damon wasn’t alone. Several Hollywood A-listers dipped into the crypto Kool-Aid during its rise. But Damon’s ad hit differently. It aired right before the crash, right as regular people were losing life savings. He wasn’t just endorsing a product, he was selling a whole financial philosophy wrapped in Interstellar-style aesthetics.
Reddit roasted him. Twitter memed him. And for once, even the Oscars didn’t feel like enough of a redemption arc. The damage to his credibility was real, and the ad? It aged like milk in the desert.
- The Infamous Brie Larson Nissan Commercial
Remember when Captain Marvel herself, Brie Larson, appeared in a Nissan ad that tried to smash the patriarchy and promote fuel efficiency at the same time? Yeah, it didn’t land.
The spot showed Brie swooping in to rescue a female executive from being overlooked in a boardroom, tossing her keys, and whisking her off in a shiny new Nissan Sentra. It was meant to feel empowering. What it felt like was a parody of empowerment written by someone who once saw a feminist tweet in 2017.
People didn’t just roll their eyes, they rolled right into Reddit threads questioning whether Brie actually believed in the campaign or just cashed a check. The ad was tone-deaf, the messaging clumsy, and the response harsh. Turns out, you can’t force inspiration with a car commercial, no matter how many gear shifts you cut to.
- Jennifer Lawrence’s Cringe Dior Spot
Jennifer Lawrence is one of the most relatable A-listers we’ve had in years. She trips at the Oscars, she says awkward things in interviews, and for a while, we loved that. But her 2023 Dior campaign? It was the fashion equivalent of asking your funny cousin to read Dostoevsky out loud with a straight face. Jennifer Lawrence is one of the most relatable A-listers we’ve had in years. She trips at the Oscars, she says awkward things in interviews, and for a while, we loved that. But her 2023 Dior campaign?
Shot in moody grayscale, the ad had Jennifer looking solemn in a windswept field while monologuing about “timeless strength.” She wore a stiff blazer and stared directly into the camera like she’d been kidnapped by Vogue. It was weirdly sterile for someone so famously chaotic.
Ironically, the whole aesthetic would’ve made more sense if it had been tied to something intentionally over-the-top, like a high-stakes RoyalReels casino theme or a designer slot fantasy dripping in diamonds and absurd luxury. Instead, it felt like a couture fever dream with no pulse. Fans were confused. Some joked she looked like she was auditioning for a remake of The Leftovers. Others said it was “AI Jennifer” trying to sell them a $4,000 handbag. Either way, the relatability was gone, and so was the connection.
- The ScarJo SodaStream Saga
Scarlett Johansson is no stranger to controversy, but her 2014 SodaStream ad stirred more than just fizzy water. The ad itself was fine, Scarlett looking cool, carbonating stuff, being her usual polished self. But the backlash wasn’t about her performance. It was about politics.
SodaStream’s main factory at the time was located in the West Bank, and ScarJo, then a global ambassador for Oxfam, found herself at odds with the organization’s stance on Israeli settlements. She chose to keep the ad, step down from Oxfam, and face a flood of headlines framing her as tone-deaf or opportunistic.
The campaign ended up feeling like a lose-lose: awkward for SodaStream, painful for Oxfam, and damaging to ScarJo’s carefully curated star persona. And all she wanted was to fizz some water.
- Ben Affleck’s Dunkin’ Moment Was Too Real
Not all ad flops are about being too polished. Some fail because they’re a little too relatable.
Ben Affleck, America’s perpetually exhausted ex-Batman, became a meme for his love of Dunkin’ long before the company hired him. So when the collab happened, it should have worked. And at first, it did.
But then came the Super Bowl ad. It featured Affleck working the drive-thru with his signature deadpan energy and a cameo from J.Lo asking, “Is this what you do when you say you’re going to work?” It was meta. It was supposed to be funny. And yet… Something felt off.
Maybe it was how self-aware it tried to be. Maybe it was the fact that people didn’t want Ben Affleck to lean into the meme. They wanted the meme to stay meme. The ad felt more like a corporate “How do you do, fellow kids?” than an organic moment, and the charm evaporated faster than an iced latte on a hot dashboard.
- Gal Gadot’s Unstoppable Cringe Parade
Let’s not forget the cursed Wonder Woman-led “Imagine” cover during the early pandemic days. While technically not an ad, it deserves mention for tanking several A-listers’ social credibility at once.
Gal Gadot, bless her hopeful heart, assembled a patchwork of celebrities to sing John Lennon’s “Imagine” from their sprawling mansions. The vibe was supposed to be unity and hope. The result? Absolute cringe.
The backlash wasn’t just about bad vocals. It was about privilege. About tone-deafness. About the disconnect between celebs who claimed “we’re all in this together” while literally being in 14,000-square-foot isolation pods.
That moment made it crystal clear: emotional influence isn’t something you can fake from a $22 million home. And Hollywood’s grip on public empathy took a major hit.
Celebrity Follower Stats Are Doing the Walk of Shame
It’s not just the ads themselves. The data’s turning against movie stars too.
Several actors who once commanded massive engagement are seeing their social numbers drop. Fast. Fake followers are getting purged. Fan accounts are going dormant. Engagements are dipping like the third act of a bad rom-com.
Sites like Social Blade are tracking steady declines for actors like Vin Diesel, whose posts now feel like shout-outs from an uncle who just discovered hashtags. Even The Rock, once the king of influencer energy, is getting called out for pushing too many energy drinks and undercooked tequila brands.
It’s not about popularity anymore. It’s about trust. And the audience is over being sold to.
Nobody Buys Perfume From a Brooding Face Anymore
One last note on the perfume game. These fragrance campaigns with brooding stars in dark hallways? They’re barely parody-proof.
Remember Johnny Depp’s Sauvage ad? He stares into the distance, drives into the desert, buries jewelry for some reason. There’s a wolf. There’s vague mumbling about instinct and freedom. It’s shot like a deleted scene from Dune.
It’s also unintentionally hilarious. People memed it to death. Parody accounts recreated it using cats and IKEA lamps. And guess what? Sales didn’t budge.
Audiences want clarity. Honesty. If you’re going to sell a scent, at least tell us what it smells like. Or, I don’t know, be in a bathroom?
Star Power Is Now a Cautionary Tale
Hollywood stars aren’t going anywhere. We’ll still watch their shows, follow their drama, and theorize about their dating lives. But when it comes to influence, the real kind, the kind that moves product and builds trust, the glow is fading.
They had the stage. They got weird with it. Now, audiences are giving that spotlight to smaller creators who actually talk like people, not poetic voiceovers reading from scripts written in marble halls.
Maybe it’s time stars stop selling and start listening again.