AIBU to wonder why Graham Norton needs to do ads?

[queenceleste]

The guy is surely fairly minted by any national standard. He never stops working.

I just think, if you don’t need the money - why would you do ads? It’s not as dignified as all his well paid work, surely.

Maybe he is using the ad funds for some charitable endeavour. But I hate to see it when they don’t need to do it and I definitely think slightly less of him. Pure, weird greed.

sigh

I didn't realise this was a "let's all blindly moan at slebs" thread

I have a famous friend who earns a huge amount for the job they are known for.

They occasionally do ads and use the money they earn from it to help out extended family - their family don’t want to seem like they’re taking advantage of my friend’s very high earning job but will accept it more easily when my friend says ‘this was literally for one day’s work’. Might seem illogical but I can understand it!

Acting/music/being a 'celebrity' has a shelf life and nobody knows how much longer they have left. So, rather like being a footballer whose entire playing career can be over with just one injury, I think they are driven to earn while they can.

If their star fades abruptly they can find themselves out of work and unfashionable/dated. If I knew that I might never work again, even if I had plenty of money put away, I'd want to work as much as possible while I could.

Does Graham Norton not work at the BBC anymore?

It's money for old rope for them. Voice over work and adverts are extremely lucrative. They might enjoy it and like that they're on TV regularly. It's good for their brand etc. Plus he'll have an agent taking a cut, a manager taking a cut etc I don't know what he does with all his money, but maybe he uses it for good

Because he’s in showbiz; an industry famed for people getting in from of a camera and pretending to like things or pretending to be something they are not.

Does he need the money? Probably not like a homeless person does but I suspect he’ll find some use for it. Maybe it could be a charity, a loved one or maybe just a new high end carpet or sofa.

I don't know what he does with all his money, but maybe he uses it for good

I've heard that he paid or partly paid for a young woman/girl to have a mastectomy because she wanted to be a transman. Whether that's true or not I don't know.

It's probably easy money and why wouldn't you top up your retirement pot if you have the opportunity.

Plus I imagine most male celebs, especially those who've traded on saying slightly inappropriate things, are well aware it could all disappear in a moment.

Graham Norton is actually tunnelling from Ireland to Italy, which is an incredibly expensive hobby. But you know what famous people are like, they don't want to have to mingle with the civilians doing hobbies in the evening so they are forced to go into ever more niche past-times.

I heard the most recent advert paid for his submersible digger.

He is the brand. I’m sure he’s paid above any average person taking the part.
I just can’t stand him. He comes across very fake. Like many in that industry, they’d sell their soul for extra cash.

WTFAF is wrong with people! Op, why the hell do you think your opinion matters on this?

Well this is strange as google says she is 91 and bought her house over 40 years ago, so surely the mortgage is paid off?

I actually started the same thread last year about Judi Dench in the money supermarket ads and I was told in no uncertain terms that I was unreasonably.

That can’t be right - surely she wouldn’t have a mortgage at her age and after making a ton of money.

Because his line of work is not stable. Yes, he and others may be earning a great deal right now but a few years down the line who knows? You take the work when you can get it.

Exactly this. You might be in demand but one day,the phone might just stop to ring and you never know when.

Sure, but your statement is silly and theirs reasonable, to the point I can't imagine how you read your defence of someone who could never work for 200 years and be still rich, and comparison to someone who would be destitute and on the streets if they stopped for a month and not feel grubby.

They're probably offering him a huge sum of money for very little work. Who wouldn't say yes to that??

One of my friends was in an RSC production with Judi Dench back in 2004. She said that she worked a lot in films and ads because it meant she could comfortably afford to continue working in theatre, which was her real passion, but often poorly-paid by comparison.

I don't begrudge them their earnings. It's a fickle business. I used to go out with an actor who earned a five-figure sum for a single advert, but then was only able to get repertory theatre work for months afterwards. And he struggled to get home insurance if he put "actor" down as his profession.

I get your point. But maybe they have a lingering fear of what it was like to be a struggling actor and the notion that it might all fade tomorrow, never to return. Or they just want to fill their days and this is what they are offered.

Easy, quick work for great money…I think most of us would!

Maybe Judi Dench doesn't have a great pension, or maybe she's taxed to the hilt? Maybe she likes to work even in old age as it's all she knows? She has a degenerative condition which has affected her sight and balance and can't read scripts. If she's known for some years that things would get worse who could blame her for doing an advert that pays well and could help with any medical or care costs that she needs.

People always want more. If you are homeless you want a room. If you have a room you want a flat. Then a terrace. Then detached. Then something else. Bigger. Better. Bigger than their’s. Nicer area. The overwhelming desire to be more.

There’s a very nice Instagram account I follow which is just….be happy with what you have and small pleasures in life.

It’s must be awful to have no control over your desires like that.

I think some celebrities (no idea about Norton or Dench) can spend money in a way that would be completly alien to most people.

You only have to look at how many celebrities from the 60s and 70s (who were, by most people's reckoning, earning a fortune) died with hardly anything.

I actually feel the demented sheep observation from @Weeelokthen was more spot on tbh!

Same reasons Jennifer Aniston did shit comedies after Friends, Michael Jackson did Pepsi ads. Trying to stay relevant/in the public eye and a fuckton of money. Even big Golden Age Hollywood stars did ads, but that was usually in their contracts.