10 Celebs Who Secretly Did Foreign Ads

1.

10. George Lucas and an adorable robot for Panasonic: This commercial will be particularly fun for anyone old enough to remember being excited about The Phantom Menace. The expression of disappointment on Lucas’ face as he poses with Sparky the robot at the end of this ad seems to echo the feeling of disappointment felt by many over the prequels.

2.

9. Dennis Hopper: from the horrors of war, to the joys of Japanese bath products.

3.

This Japanese commercial for whatever it is that the Tsumura Company makes, details Dennis Hopper’s apparently very intense and possessive relationship with a small plastic rubber duck. Again, I have no idea what this ad intends to sell but the relationship between Hopper and the Rubber Duck is captivating none the less.

4.

8. Snoop Dogg, this German Cell phone ad featuring Snoop Dogg is relatable and easy to understand. We’ve all been there, staring at a turtle on the kitchen floor, feeling bored, when all of a sudden Snoop Dogg emerges from your fridge crooning German folk music and life is fun again! This ad left me confused and disoriented, so it is actually very on-brand for Snoop Dogg.

5.

7. Kiefer Sutherland for Calorie Mate

6.

This Japanese Ad takes less than 15 seconds to demonstrate a perfect understanding of the T.V. show ‘24.' A show that was mostly Kiefer Sutherland running around and yelling into an ear-piece. In this instance, Sutherland is able to maintain the energy needed to run around and yell by enjoying a bag of Calorie Mate on a crowded train.

7.

6. Eddie Murphy for the Toyota Celica

8.

In 1990 Eddie Murphy was at the top of his game and decided to make some easy money as the face of the Toyota Celica in Japan, Eddie kills it in these ads and I wouldn’t be surprised if these Celica spots have been seen by more people than Vampire in Brooklyn by now.

9.

5. Bruce Willis for Eneos, a Japanese gas station chain.

10.

In this awesome series of ads for Japanese service station company Eneos, Bruce Willis runs around screaming and giving power to those in need through some kind of gas-pump attached to his back. I enjoyed these more than I’ve enjoyed the last 2 Die Hard movies.

11.

4. Arnold Schwarzenegger selling Japanese Energy Drinks. Looking at a lot of these foreign ads featuring U.S. Celebrities, it seems that the early 90’s was a serious golden age, maybe it was the lack of an internet to make these ads internationally accessible at the time? Whatever it was, Arnold Schwarzenegger was at his prime just in time to capitalize on this trend in a big way, most of the ads center on him screaming, making weird faces and transforming into and out of things--All major strengths for Arnold.

12.

3. Sylvester Stallone for Hot Dogs. This image of a Tuxedo-wearing Sylvester Stallone followed by flying hot-dogs is pure poetry.

13.

Sylvester Stallone for soup. I have always believed that Stallone's directorial abilities were cosmically linked to soup in some way, and this ad is all the confirmation I need of this beautiful relationship.

14.

2. Tommy Lee Jones and a Japanese Coffee Drink. Jones may have had the best individual ad of anyone on the countdown, in this Japanese coffee ad he appears as a teacher who is so extremely caffeinated that wields superpowers to keep his unruly students in line.

15.

1. Nicolas Cage for Japanese energy drink Pachinko. Based on the fact that most of the countdown is already dominated by 90s action stars having over the top freakouts about energy drinks, it should be no surprise that Nicolas Cage is at the top of this countdown. If you are a hardcore Cage fan then his series of Pachinko ads have everything you want, Nic Cage freaking out over Pachinko at a press conference, Nic Cage freaking out over Pachinko behind a piano, Nic Cage teaching martians how to line dance, and whatever this is.