WHAT ELSE SHOWBIZ IDOLS ARE GOOD FOR
by Danny Vibas, The Manila Times, October 12, 2002

Showbiz idols get paid not only for their looks and their talents. They’re well paid, of course, knowing how we all loved to be entertained not just by homely clowns but more so by beings with god-like looks, arresting charm, or some kind of talent. We certainly pay our showbiz idols infinitely much more than we pay our teachers, our doctors, and our priests. We pay them as much as we do — though not officially — our politicians.

Showbiz idols get paid even more – almost infinitely more — as product and service endorsers. That’s another thing they’re good at: encouraging, enticing — even seducing — the public to go for a specific product or service.

Sharon Cuneta has just been paid reportedly more than P10 million to endorse Sara Lee products, specifically the direct-selling company’s cosmetics, fragrances, and facial skin care products. Sharon’s face and supposed quotes about this or that Sara Lee product will appear in billboards, print ads, and brochures that Sara Lee agents show to potential buyers when they make their sales calls.

Endorsement contracts last from one to two years and if Sara Lee is willing to pay her P10 million, that means the company expect to make more than that amount in net profit while the megastar’s contract is enforced. The company knows it cannot fail with Sharon as its product endorser. It’s actually their second time with her. Sharon was the face behind Sara Lee’s Colour Collection cosmetics campaign from 1995-1997.

“We still remember the phenomenal effect Sharon had on our dealers and overall product sales when we got her during the mid-90s!” recalls Sara Lee Direct Selling Asia President Perry Mo. “Knowing Sharon’s incredible influence on virtually all sectors of society, we won’t be surprised if this mega-team up more than doubles our expectations in the months to come, especially now that Sara Lee has a wider range of products for the Filipino consumers,” he adds.

“It’s always a pleasure working with Sharon,” remarks Sara Lee General Manager Ricky Sy, “and this is a fact that can be said even by non-showbiz folks. Her natural charm and demeanor always work wonders — creating that instantaneous ‘pull’ that can definitely disarm almost everybody.”

“The new tandem is indeed an auspicious way of capping Sara Lee’s 10th anniversary in the country this month. Although the company has become synonymous with cosmetics, intimate apparel and fragrances, it has also gradually beefed up its diverse line of products to include household care products, athletic and casual wear, nutritional supplements and even baby care products,” adds Sy.

Sharon is not the only Cuneta who is earning extremely well from endorsement jobs. The other one is Frankie Cuneta Pangilinan. Yes, the megastar’s three-year-old daughter by Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan who reportedly got paid P5 million recently for appearing in a diaper commercial. A few months before that, the little girl also reportedly got paid P3.5 million for appearing in an infant formula commercial. But, hey, let’s not kill ourselves for not being able to earn that much in one or two days of work even until our dying day. It’s just that our mother’s name is not Sharon Cuneta.

Sharon is known in the advertising industry as a “universal endorser” — which means there’s hardly any product that she cannot endorse and not generate millions in sales. Oh, yes, she probably won’t endorse beer — because that’s the territory of the “King of Pinoy Movies” himself, Fernando Poe Jr. His talent fee for his beer commercial is most likely close to that of Sharon — and if it seems small for his stature, it could only be because beer, after all, has a specific and limited market. It’s not meant for women and kids, too, unlike many of the products that the megastar endorses.

The other endorsers of beer and liquor pro-ducts are either action stars and bold stars. Robin Padilla, Eddie Garcia, and even the less known Carlos Morales endorse such products. So do Assunta de Rossi and Geneva Cruz. Lito Lapid, Julio Diaz, Ruel Vernal, the late Anthony Alonzo were also liquor endorsers.

Beer products that want to appeal to the young also make use of bands and other groups as endorsers. The APO trio of Danny Javier, Jim Paredes, and Boboy were once beer endorsers. And so are the boybands The Dawn and South Border. The APO’s talent fee could be several million pesos at the time they were doing beer commercials, which was also the time they had weekly TV show that eventually became a daily noontime show.

Oh, yes, Sharon has a male counterpart: Aga Muhlach. There was even a time the two took turns endorsing some products — or even switching the products they were endorsing. Aga’s talent fees from the commercials are believed to have built him his multi-million mansion in Alabang — aside from the houses he had bought for some members of his family. His endorsement fees made him live comfortably well at the time his movie career was down and was visible only through one TV show, his now defunct Oki Doki Doc on ABS-CBN 2.

Like Sharon, Aga hasn’t endorsed beer or any liquor, knowing that if he would, he might lose the chance to endorse “wholesome” products meant for the general populace – and there are more such products than beer and liquor. Aga has lately been teaming up with his real-life wife, Charlene Gonzales, in several commercials. However, according to Aga’s manager, Ethel Ramos, the actor has three new endorsement jobs this year for which he has shot the commercials. Aga’s contracts for those products rule that he can’t reveal yet his endorsement of those products ahead of the premiere appearance of the commercials he made for them.

Another endorser whose fee will surely be in millions of pesos is Dolphy who once endorsed the same fast food chain that Aga once endorsed and whose main endorser now is Sharon. But the latest pitchmakers for that fast food chain are, of course, soap opera contravidas Eula Valdez and Jean Garcia. They did the commercial soon after that ABS-CBN 2 soap where they became nationally famous, Pangako Sa ‘Yo, went off the air.

Also getting hot for endorsements these days is award-winning actor Cesar Montano who seems to have suddenly outdone equally award-winning actor Richard Gomez in the pitch-making business. Richard, though, remains to be the most famous endorser of a certain brand of underwear whose manufacturer is also into outfits and other personal products.

Showbiz idols don’t have to be in the league of Sharon, FPJ, Aga, and Cesar, and Richard to be signed up as endorsers. Individually and collectively those handsome and well-bodied actors known as The Hunks have been making a killing doing endorsements of products that appeal to the young and less than middle-aged adults. Hunks Diether Ocampo and Carlos Agassi seem to be the leader of the pack. Jericho Rosales has endorsements, too, with or without rumored girlfriend Kristine Hermosa who has her solo pitchmaking jobs, too. Though she’s currently out of school, a computer college has even signed her up as endorser. She even endorses schoolbags.

Some people who don’t regularly watch ABS-CBN 2 shows may not know who the siblings Camille and John Prats are, or who Baron Geisler, Lloyd Cruz, and Shaina Magdayao are, but all five of them are endorsers of products targeted at the young. Shaina, for instance, endorses Secosana children’s bags while Camille the brand’s teen lines.

Some people may not be aware that through the years their showbiz idols have not just been entertaining them. Those showbiz idols have also been selling a lot of goods to them. Many showbiz idols have also sold themselves to the populace as public servants, one of whom even made it to Malacañang. The more enlightened, the more concerned among us are hoping it won’t happen again in 2004.