On the face of it

Is hiring a big name all it takes to ensure a platinum-selling beauty product these days, or in a world where celebrity is now an elastic concept, is it a harder sell? Kirstie McDermott finds out.

STEVEN SEAGAL’S lightning bolt. Hulk Hogan cheeseburgers. Limoncello, by Danny DeVito. Sylvester Stallone high protein pudding: those are products celebs endorse in their own country.

For the stuff they’re embarrassed about, they go to Japan, where Sean Connery hawked yoghurt, Brad Pitt shook his ass to flog jeans, Harrison Ford sold Kirin beer, and, for Tsumura, Dennis Hopper got in a bubble bath with a rubber duck.