The Gross TV Adverts Their A-List Stars Never Want You to See Again — From Courteney Cox Plugging Tampax to Bryan Cranston Pushing Hemorrhoid Cure
Before they made it big, many actors got their very first break by appearing in TV commercials — hawking everything from burgers to personal hygiene products!
Sept. 19 2024, Published 9:00 a.m. ET
John Travolta – 1973 Band-Aid
Grease star John Travolta, now 70, was stuck on Band-Aids in an early commercial where he advertised the boo-boo covers.
Courteney Cox – 1985 Tampax
She would dance her way from a Bruce Springsteen, 74, music video to the beloved sitcom Friends – but first Courteney Cox, now 60, made close friends of another kind in a Tampax ad while wearing nothing but undies.
Sharon Stone – 1983 Finesse Shampoo
Stone completely slammed Americans following Trump's victory.
Sharon Stone, now 66 and who advertised washing her luscious locks with Finesse, would go on to dazzle audiences in Casino and Basic Instinct.
Brad Pitt – 1989 Pringles
Even in this Pringles commercial, future two-time Oscar winner Brad Pitt, now 60, proved he was no ordinary potato chip off the old block!
Keanu Reeves – 1986 Kellogg's Corn Flakes
Years before Keanu Reeves, 60, became the chosen one in The Matrix and the rough-and-tumble star John Wick, he won hearts as a dancing waiter happily downing a bowl of crunchy cereal.
Mark Hamill – 1971 Kodak
The iconic actor fled to his nearby daughter's house during the California fires.
Acting beginner Mark Hamill, now 72, was helping Kodak sell cameras and film just six years before he became a young Jedi named Luke Skywalker!
Drew Barrymore – 1979 Pillsbury
Drew Barrymore, 49, would eventually become a tough cookie in Charlie's Angels – but she got her first taste of stardom in a Pillsbury cookie dough commercial at the age of four!
Leonardo DiCaprio – 1989 Bubble Yum
One day, Leonardo DiCaprio, now 49, would become a Titanic star and an Oscar winner – but only after he blew up his acting career in a Bubble Yum commercial when he was only 13 years old!
Mark Ruffalo – 1989 Clearasil
Avengers star Mark Ruffalo, 56, was once a superhero to teens battling villainous acne in a Clearasil commercial.
Ben Affleck – 1989 Burger King
Affleck says his 2013 movie Gigli will go down as one of the biggest movie bombs 'in history'.
In a whopper of a career start, future Batman Ben Affleck, now 52, hawked hamburgers by having it his way – 27 years before his turn as the Caped Crusader!
Morgan Freeman – 1970s Listerine
The Shawshank Redemption and Million Dollar Baby Oscar winner Morgan Freeman, 87, first showed a fellow worker how to get fresh breath in a Listerine commercial.
Steve Carell – 1989 Brown’s Chicken
No doubt playing a peppy employee of a chicken joint helped prepare Steve Carell, now 62, to become the manager of a paper company in The Office.
Demi Moore – 1990 Diet Coke
From Ghost to Indecent Proposal to G.I. Jane, Demi Moore, 61, has always stayed slim and trim. Is that bubbly diet soda she advertised 34 years ago her real secret?
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Matt LeBlanc – 1988 Cherry 7-Up
LeBlanc is being comforted regularly by Friends co-stars Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox.
When reel life collides with real life: Matt LeBlanc's Friends character Joey made a slew of TV commercials, just like his real-life spot for Cherry 7-Up — where the cruising cutie, now 57, got the girl in the end.
Bruce Willis – 1986 Seagram’s
Who on earth could be cooler than Die Hard hunk Bruce Willis, now 69, selling and singing about Seagram’s Wine Coolers … they must have had a Sixth Sense about him.
Bryan Cranston – 1980s Preparation H
Bryan Cranston, 68, became a drug dealer in his hit series Breaking Bad – but he started out in the '80s selling a different kind of medication for people breaking out with those pesky hemorrhoids!
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