Forgotten commercials starring TV stars
There was a time when TV stars were everywhere. Not just on your screen every Thursday night or Saturday morning, but also in between shows, selling everything from fast food to painkillers to laundry detergent.
Before social media could spread the embarrassment forever, these ads aired, got forgotten, and quietly disappeared into the archive. Here is a list of some of those commercials that your favorite TV stars probably hope you never dig up again.
Leonard Nimoy for Magickal Mystical Moon commercial
Leonard Nimoy played the ultra-logical Mr. Spock on ‘Star Trek,’ so watching him narrate a perfume ad feels wonderfully out of place. In the 1970s, he lent his deep, serious voice to a commercial for a perfume called Magickal Mystical Moon, reading the copy with the same straight-faced delivery he used on the bridge of the Enterprise.
It is a real thing, and it is as entertaining as it sounds.
Betty White for Tastee-Freez
Long before Betty White became everyone’s favorite sharp-tongued grandmother on ‘The Golden Girls,’ she was pitching soft-serve ice cream in the 1950s. Her Tastee-Freez commercials showed her bright-eyed and enthusiastic, which honestly tracks.
Betty White has always been exactly who she appears to be.
Don Draper, err, Jon Hamm for Clorox
Jon Hamm spent years playing the coolest, most composed ad man in television history on ‘Mad Men.’ So it is a little funny to find him in a Clorox commercial from before his big break, looking notably less polished and far more eager to please.
He is selling bleach. Don Draper would never.
J. Seinfeld for American Express
J. Seinfeld appeared in a series of American Express commercials in the early 2000s, back when he was the biggest comedian on the planet and his show had just ended. The ads were creative and felt more like short sketches than traditional commercials, which made them easy to forget they were commercials at all.
They featured an animated Superman alongside him, which made them genuinely fun to watch.
Mr. T for 1-800-Collect
During the 1990s, 1-800-Collect was battling it out with AT&T for control of the collect call market, and Mr. T became one of their most memorable pitchmen. Known for his tough-guy image from ‘The A-Team,’ he showed up in ads telling viewers to stop wasting their parents’ money.
It was aggressive, it was loud, and somehow it worked.
Courteney Cox in a Tampax ad
Before she was Monica Geller on ‘Friends,’ Courteney Cox appeared in a 1985 Tampax commercial that made history as one of the first ads on American television to use the word ‘period’ in reference to menstruation. She was composed, direct, and clearly comfortable on camera already.
The ad was bold for its time, even if it was quickly overshadowed by her much bigger career.
James Earl Jones for Verizon
James Earl Jones has one of the most recognizable voices in the world, so it makes sense that someone would pay him to record phone sounds. In a series of Verizon commercials, he and Rahul Kohli would dramatize text messages and ringtones in absurdly theatrical fashion.
The result was a commercial that most people watched multiple times just for fun.
Keanu Reeves for Kirin beer
Before ‘The Matrix’ made him one of the most iconic actors in modern film history, Keanu Reeves appeared in a series of Japanese beer commercials for Kirin in the late 1980s. He looked relaxed, young, and perfectly happy to be selling beer on the other side of the world.
Celebrities often filmed international ads early in their careers precisely because those clips rarely made it back home.
David Hasselhoff for Hoffspace
The Hoff did not just act in commercials, he starred in one for a product he apparently invented. Hoffspace was a social networking parody he created in 2009 to promote his personal brand, and it featured him with all the earnestness of someone who genuinely believed the internet needed more Hasselhoff.
It was strange. It was committed.
It was peak Hasselhoff.
Steve Carell for Brown’s Chicken
Long before Michael Scott made the world cringe-laugh on ‘The Office,’ Steve Carell was a regional commercial actor in the Chicago area. His Brown’s Chicken ad from the early 1990s is wonderfully awkward, featuring a younger, less confident-looking Carell doing what regional commercial actors do.
He sold chicken. The character was not memorable.
He was.
Lucille Appeared in Ads for Philip Morris Cigarettes
She made people laugh like few others ever did on television, starring in ‘I Love Lucy’ with a gift for timing and movement that felt natural. Back then, during the 1950s, Lucille alongside Desi Arnaz promoted cigarettes for Philip Morris right inside episodes of their program – live reads baked into the broadcast itself.
Times operated under separate rules, where health concerns took a back seat to corporate partnerships. Today, such moments stand out, marking just how deeply expectations around ads have transformed since.
Bruce Willis Endorses Seagram’s Golden Wine Coolers
Around 1985, Bruce Willis made his name on ‘Moonlighting,’ though nobody saw him as an action star just yet. Instead of big movie roles, he showed up in relaxed commercials for Seagram’s wine coolers – full of singing, dancing, and a bit of humor.
Those spots leaned hard into his regular-guy appeal, making him familiar but not exactly tough. Once he shifted toward films, the whole ad gig quietly disappeared, like it never mattered much at all.
Teri Hatcher Appears in Radio Shack Ad
Funny how some moments stick around longer than others. Back in the nineties, long before suburban mysteries made her famous, Teri Hatcher smiled through gadget pitches for Radio Shack.
Those spots popped up between sitcoms, full of bright lights and chirpy lines about wires and gizmos. A visit to the store felt normal then, like stopping by any shop downtown.
Her energy lit up the screen – friendly, bouncy, nothing too deep. Watching now?
They feel distant, coated in that old-timey glow only analog memories seem to carry.
Ben Affleck appears in Burger King Japan campaign
Burger King once hired Ben Affleck for a Japan-only ad during the 90s – back when he wasn’t famous enough to play superheroes or hold golden statues. Plenty of actors did similar jobs, counting on those spots staying far from American screens.
His math checked out… at least until online sharing erased borders and old ads started traveling further than ever intended.
Neil Patrick Harris Appears in Heineken Campaign
A kid once played a doctor on TV, Neil Patrick Harris, earning smiles across living rooms. Later, holding a green bottle, he winked at fame through Heineken spots that didn’t sell suds so much as clever glances.
These clips danced with irony because he treated himself like a punchline, willingly. Camera-ready since the start, his moves never seemed accidental or unsure.
Every glance, timed just right, showed someone fully aware of the frame.
When the camera never really turns off
Still, those spots never wrecked reputations or rewrote legacies. Maybe instead they show cracks in the polished image, let fans glimpse someone human behind the glow.
Picture Bruce Willis pushing fizzy wine, or Keanu Reeves hawking lager in Tokyo – moments that whisper how stardom stacks brick by brick, often through cringe-worthy tryouts. Far from blunders, each played a part, now softened by years into odd little joys nobody expected.
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