James May cashes in on Top Gear

[camshafted]

James May has finally given in to his commercial potential by signing up to do a few adverts for Fuller's ale.

http://www.chinchinjobs.com/News/Article/fullers-s...

It seems like one of those rare moments when a company gets the perfect representative although I doubt he'll be making £500,000 for the ads like Hammond did when he was pushing a trolley round Morrisons.

I can remember Clarkson doing an advertising campaign for BT a few years back. Now all he does is sl@g off the phone company.

For some reason I can't imagine May getting angry at Fullers.

Can you think of any other campaigns over the years Hammond and Clarkson did? I'm sure both Hammond and Clarkson have been pretty prolific in cashing in on their fame

[Steve_W]

He wrote a bit about it in his Telegraph column.

Good luck to him; seems a decent sort, although I've never met him.

Telegraph - James May

[al1991]

camshafted said:

It seems like one of those rare moments when a company gets the perfect representative

I agree, he probably believes in the product.

I wouldn't resent JM, or any of the TG boys, doing what they want and cashing in on Top Gear.

I know I, and most of those that are quick to criticise, would probably do the same in that situation.

Edited by al1991 on Monday 1st November 09:14

[camshafted]

I imagine he's been offered a fair few ads down the years but held off until now.

Like a less odious Ricky Gervais who refuses to do adverts, despite once being offered $1 million for 30 mins work with a gin company I think.

Makes me wish I was famous, adverts really are a way to coin it!

[Hitch78]

I think it is a little unfair to say that he's cashing in on TG.

When he arrived he seemed like he'd been carved from oak he was that wooden but he's carved out a real niche as a likeable chap who makes interesting programmes - of which TG is but one.

If I were famous I'd we it around like Hammond, sorry, I mean the best of them - why not set yourself and your family up by pushing your glistening pearly whites and feathered lady-locks into everyone's living room at every opportunity?!

[k-ink]

James has really come into his own hasn't he. No opening supermarkets and doing game shows for him!

[Carpie]

Don't see how you could criticize them for doing a few ads, especially when they're getting paid enough to buy a house for that add.

Also, Chris Evans also drinks London Pride, I served him a pint a few weeks ago. Nice chap! Didn't turn up in either of his Fezza 250s though!

[ShadownINja]

Steve_W said:

Good luck to him; seems a decent sort, although I've never met him.

Well, he turned up to a H4H Christmas Party at Headley Court a couple of years ago. (In fairness to the other two, they had the flu, apparently.)

[ryan77]

I remember reading that Hammond got £750k (more than most people earn in a lifetime) from 4 days work shooting a Morrison's ad. For a split second it made me very annoyed but of course immediately afterwards I thought I'd do exactly the same in his position! If y

Getting on a show like TG is a one in a million opportunity so it makes sense to milk it for all it's worth. I think it's fair to say that none of the presenters expected the revamped show to be as popular worldwide as it has become.

I'm slightly surprised May hasn't featured in ads before, he seems to have quite a following these days. It's unlikely TG will run that much longer in its current format (is it just me or do the shows seem pretty much the same these days?) so it makes sense to cash in when they can!

[Motorrad]

Didn't Fullers buy Gales and the bugger up all their beer?

If so then shame on him.

[Kinky]

I'd say that he's not cashing in on TG at all.

In fact, if anything I'd say he's cashing in on his beer/wine series that he's done with Oz.

And good luck to him. He's ideal for it (if you watched the series that he's done).

[dreamz]

i've always thought bbc contracted staff werent allowed to do adverts and the reason gary linekar had been allowed was his contract with walkers was before he joined the bbc...

[JungleJim]

dreamz said:

i've always thought bbc contracted staff werent allowed to do adverts and the reason gary linekar had been allowed was his contract with walkers was before he joined the bbc...

do they work for the BBC or are they freelance?

[ali_kat]

Kinky said:

I'd say that he's not cashing in on TG at all.

In fact, if anything I'd say he's cashing in on his beer/wine series that he's done with Oz.

And good luck to him. He's ideal for it (if you watched the series that he's done).

[dreamz]

JungleJim said:

dreamz said:

i've always thought bbc contracted staff werent allowed to do adverts and the reason gary linekar had been allowed was his contract with walkers was before he joined the bbc...

do they work for the BBC or are they freelance?

possibly. maybe thats how they bypass certain issues like revealing wages etc

but then again it was the bbc that went to court with the stig not some 3rd party...

[al1991]

dreamz said:

JungleJim said:

dreamz said:

i've always thought bbc contracted staff werent allowed to do adverts and the reason gary linekar had been allowed was his contract with walkers was before he joined the bbc...

do they work for the BBC or are they freelance?

possibly. maybe thats how they bypass certain issues like revealing wages etc

but then again it was the bbc that went to court with the stig not some 3rd party...

They work freelance don't they?

I know for a fact that JC and the producer Andy Wilman run a company which deals with the licensing for TG. Not sure if his fee for presenting goes through it though.

[webbyst]

camshafted said:

James May has finally given in to his commercial potential by signing up to do a few adverts for Fuller's ale.

http://www.chinchinjobs.com/News/Article/fullers-s...

It seems like one of those rare moments when a company gets the perfect representative although I doubt he'll be making £500,000 for the ads like Hammond did when he was pushing a trolley round Morrisons.

I can remember Clarkson doing an advertising campaign for BT a few years back. Now all he does is sl@g off the phone company.

For some reason I can't imagine May getting angry at Fullers.

Can you think of any other campaigns over the years Hammond and Clarkson did? I'm sure both Hammond and Clarkson have been pretty prolific in cashing in on their fame

Lucky devil, he lives in Hammersmith too, only a stone throw from the Griffin brewery too ,

as said above good luck to him , May is the real star of top gear

[webbyst]

Carpie said:

Don't see how you could criticize them for doing a few ads, especially when they're getting paid enough to buy a house for that add.

Also, Chris Evans also drinks London Pride, I served him a pint a few weeks ago. Nice chap! Didn't turn up in either of his Fezza 250s though!

I have met mr Evans a few times when i had my market stall, great fella , very nice chap , he even gave my stall a little plug on his virgin saturday afternoon show , he didn't have too , just a nice gesture

[ryan77]

I'm pretty sure all 3 are freelance, I think it's been revealed in the press that May is on about £20k a show which equates to £600k a year for Top Gear alone, beats writing articles for car magazines lol

[snowy slopes]

fair play to him, as has been said, the little one did it for some time for morrisons, and the lanky one did it for BT, so he is just jumping on the bandwagon, albeit a little bit later than the other two.