This is an old, old video of Arnold Schwarzenegger selling a Japanese energy drink (the name escapes me), but he was by no means the first or last. Making a quickie buck (or million or two) in Japan is one of the hidden benefits of being a Hollywood celebrity. If you happen to be in a movie that becomes a mammoth hit in a foreign country (but in particular Japan), you have basically a second career of commercials, guest spots on TV shows, and print ads. (Think of it as the David Hasselhoff Effect.) Just about every Hollywood celebrity has done a Japanese commercial, and all of them are praying and hoping that no one outside of Japan ever sees it.
Not all the commercials are as wacky and degrading as this one, of course, but when strangers want to pay you a couple of million bucks for 30 seconds of work — hell yeah, I’d do it, too!
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