Foreign celebrity advertising is a well-liked form of advertising in parts of Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. The phenomena is most pronounced when English-speaking celebrities do print advertisements or commercials for a non-English speaking market.

American and British dramatic actors have usually been reluctant to appear in common
advertising campaigns, on the assumption that it cheapens their respectability and can be perceived as selling out by their fanbase or the critical public at large. In Asia, it is much more common to see dramatic actors in commercial advertisements. Japanese advertising budgets, for one, can be far more extravagant than American budgets when it comes to celebrity talent, so the deals in other countries can often prove much more lucrative than their domestic counterparts, with a much lower risk of negative publicity. As many of the celebrities play a part under the theory that their videos will never be seen by their familial audience, many times they agree to do actions and read lines that are silly and outside of their normal image.

For the reasons stated above, celebrities often attempt to keep on these advertisements a secret from American audiences. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has done many television ads for Japanese drinks, food products, and television networks is known to secure a "secrecy clause", preventing Japanese advertisers from disclosing his support deals in the United States . A few celebrities, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Meg Ryan, have even gone so far as to file cease and desist correspondence against websites that mirrored the unfamiliar advertisements.
In more latest years, probably because of the faster spread of information made possible by the internet, American celebrities have been more open about doing foreign advertisements, as well as ever-increasing their advertising presence in the United States. Oscar-winning actress Catherine Zeta-Jones has become the spokeswoman for T-Mobile, and a variety of isolated celebrities such as Robert DeNiro and M. Night Shyamalan have done individual advertisements for American Express.

Examples

* Historically, American actors and filmmakers Orson Welles, Francis Ford Coppola, and Audrey Hepburn would become visible in Japanese advertisements, while eschewing American ones. More current celebrities such as Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jodie Foster, who usually avoid publicity in the United States, have been known to do large-scale advertising campaigns in Japan and China.

* One commercial featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger promoting a Japanese energy drink "Vfuyy" with zany actions is a favorite of Conan O'Brien, and was regularly featured on Late Night with Conan O'Brien as a filler clip.

* One Pepsi commercial that aired in Asia features American singer Christina Aguilera but wasn't aired in United States.

Foreign celebrity advertising in popular culture

* The movie Lost in Translation follows an American actor's trip to Japan to film an ad for Suntory brand whiskey. It is loosely based on Francis Ford Coppola, who did advertisements for the Japanese liquor, despite shying away from advertisements in the United States.

* The Entourage episode "Chinatown" features the main character, Vincent Chase,
appearing in a lucrative Chinese energy drink commercial at the request of his agent. In the episode, the production quality and special effects budget of the commercial rivals some mainstream action movies.

* The Friends episode "The One with Ross's Grant" includes the character Joey appearing in a Japanese Lipstick for Men commercial.

Source : www.wikipedia.org