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Paul McCartney, Insurance Salesman

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Full story below. My question: Why? (Besides his being a twit). Macca can't possibly need the money.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former Beatle Paul McCartney, whose music helped stir the rebellious counter-culture movement of the 1960s, will soon deliver a different kind of message -- pitching financial planning.

Boston-based Fidelity Investments signed up the singer for ads designed to show the privately held mutual fund giant can help people achieve their dreams, said Claire Huang, Fidelity's executive vice president for advertising.

McCartney is the biggest celebrity ever signed up by Fidelity, which manages more than $1 trillion in funds.

They ad, titled "This is Paul" and crafted with advertising agency Arnold Worldwide, will air in the United States and Canada this month and feature a chronological tour of McCartney's life.

Huang said the company chose McCartney because he is innovative, authentic and a respected leader in his field.

"We see Fidelity as being the same in our field and we think this is definitely good for both parties," she told Reuters in an interview..

Fidelity long relied on former fund manager Peter Lynch, whose shock of white hair made him instantly recognizable with millions of investors, as the company's best known pitchman.

The company is currently running a series of advertisements featuring average people who have reinvented themselves and rely on Fidelity for financial advice.

The contract with McCartney was hammered out in a little less than a year and Fidelity said the 63-year-old singer approached the firm to help sponsor his upcoming concert tour.

― electric derby, Wednesday, 7 September 2005 21:30 (twenty years ago)

His new single is already in a Lexus commercial, too.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 21:35 (twenty years ago)

But, then, of course, people for some reason are always more liable to label him as a twit and if David Bowie does the same thing it's probably more readily accepted?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 21:43 (twenty years ago)

Hooray!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 21:48 (twenty years ago)

I can fite you guys on multiple McCartney threads at once, you know!

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 21:51 (twenty years ago)

Deep involvement with activist causes demands continuing revenue streams, which back catalog may not be providing to his satisfaction.

Either that, or he misses being on TV.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 22:08 (twenty years ago)

>>Deep involvement with activist causes demands continuing revenue streams, which back catalog may not be providing to his satisfaction.

Plausible, but it still makes me squeamish. Not that I cared much for his solo work to begin with.

― electric derby, Wednesday, 7 September 2005 22:48 (twenty years ago)

richest musician in the world sacrifices integrity for more riches.

oh wait. he already sacrificed his integrity with his entire solo career output. my mistake.

― richard wood johnson, Wednesday, 7 September 2005 22:58 (twenty years ago)

Charles Ives: what a sellout.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 22:59 (twenty years ago)

Is there something politically objectionable about mutual funds, anyway?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 23:02 (twenty years ago)

Depends which ones.

― nabiscothingy, Wednesday, 7 September 2005 23:27 (twenty years ago)

Is there something politically objectionable about mutual funds, anyway?

Arguably, in the sense that "maximizing shareholder profit" is a convenient shorthand for every capitalist business technique that ensures the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 23:31 (twenty years ago)

>But, then, of course, people for some reason are always more liable to label him as a twit and if David Bowie does the same thing it's probably more readily accepted?

Damn right right. Because McCartney=dudebags who writes silly little love songs and Bowie=always cool no matter how uncool he is at the moment. Pepsi sponsored world tour during which you wear a red wind breaker and a golden 80s mullet? No problem, duke! play "Sons Of The SIlent Age"! What? Peter Frampton wants to do another solo? Sure thing!

― tonyD (noiseyrock), Thursday, 8 September 2005 01:03 (twenty years ago)

Is there something politically objectionable about mutual funds, anyway?

It's called selling out the rock and roll revolution

― Cunga (Cunga), Thursday, 8 September 2005 01:35 (twenty years ago)

"That organ (on Beatles Carnival of Light track) is exactly how I used to see him. I used to picture him as a maniac from the seventeenth century: one of those brilliant composers who'd suddenly been reincarnated into this century, let loose with modern technology. A lot of people thought Paul McCartney was shallow. I didn't see him as that at all, I saw him as very very deep. He had this open fire with a big settee in front of it, there would be no lights on, and he'd be playing music at top volume. I used to sit there watching him for hours. I think that's the real him; this real deep, dark ... I thought, Who knows what he could do if they'd leave him alone for a bit? Because he could absorb a lot without encountering any mental block, he could express that Machiavellian, European horror."

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Thursday, 8 September 2005 02:45 (twenty years ago)

macca could not possibly need the money, quite true. but he most definitely needs the airtime on american tv when he happens to be pitching a new album. seems like a fairly straightforward, obvious and not uncommon arrangement to me.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 8 September 2005 03:25 (twenty years ago)

what's that quote from Tim ?

― Brad Laner (Brad Laner), Thursday, 8 September 2005 03:44 (twenty years ago)

"That organ (on Beatles Carnival of Light track) is exactly how I used to see him. I used to picture him as a maniac from the seventeenth century: one of those brilliant composers who'd suddenly been reincarnated into this century, let loose with modern technology. A lot of people thought Paul McCartney was shallow. I didn't see him as that at all, I saw him as very very deep. He had this open fire with a big settee in front of it, there would be no lights on, and he'd be playing music at top volume. I used to sit there watching him for hours. I think that's the real him; this real deep, dark ... I thought, Who knows what he could do if they'd leave him alone for a bit? Because he could absorb a lot without encountering any mental block, he could express that Machiavellian, European horror."
Drink Coke!

― retort pouch (retort pouch), Thursday, 8 September 2005 03:46 (twenty years ago)

That quote is from a guy named David Vaughan (UK psychedelic artist - he's the one who painted McCartney's psychedelic upright piano, which he still uses) interviewed in Barry Miles' book Many Years from Now.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Thursday, 8 September 2005 04:49 (twenty years ago)

"Arguably, in the sense that "maximizing shareholder profit" is a convenient shorthand for every capitalist business technique that ensures the rich get richer and the poor get poorer"

??

― Marco Damiani (Marco D.), Thursday, 8 September 2005 05:27 (twenty years ago)


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