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Entertainment behind the scenes
Lindsay Lohan = Oprah, Madonna?
Umm. No. — at least according to a poll by celebrity market researcher E-Poll.
Lohan — former Disney child star, turned member of the “Mean Girls,” then media sensation, before plunging into alcohol and drug abuse and going to rehab, from which she emerged to a troubled acting career and then flopped in the world of fashion, all before she turns 24 years old this year — has sued E*Trade Financial Corp, seeking $100 million for an advertisement that Lohan claims wrongly uses her “likeness, name, characterization, and personality” without permission, violating her right of privacy. The ad involves toddlers. Read that story here.
Importantly, the ad uses only a first name, Lindsay, and of course there are millions of Lindsay’s in the world. Still, a lawyer for Lohan told the New York Post that the Hollywood actress has the same “single-name” recognition as celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Madonna. Really?
E-Poll, which makes a business out of asking questions like these and selling that information to companies looking for details about celebrity and pop culture, has come up with some different results. E-Poll recently asked a similar question of people and here’s what it found. In the name awareness category, Lindsay Lohan had a 77 percent rating to Oprah Winfrey’s 89 percent and Madonna’s 91 percent. Not bad, Lindsay LOHAN, but not quite the same — and not on a single name. E-Poll, by the way, is in no way affiliated with E*Trade. The two companies just share a first letter. (Hey, maybe they should sue each other).
Oh, you BET E*Trade knew exactly what they were doing!! That’s the BEAUTY of this! Impossible to prove they meant her (but they DID…of course they did!! Seriously, folks, when I say Lindsay, of whom do you think?); and, AND…look at the massive, massive and did I mention MASSIVE amounts of utterly free advertising they are getting from this? A stroke of genious! I used to work in advertising and someone just got a massive raise (that’s what she said!!) for this. Utterly unproveable in court, tons of free advertising, and everyone is laughing about it. I’ll tell you one thing…if E*Trade is as efficient and smart a company as their advertising company (BBD&O? William Esty?? Who??) then they’ve got my business!! Sheer genious!! As an aside, Ms. Lohan: you look awful. Please help yourself to some counseling and rehab.