One of the least inspiring marketing concepts around, for this old curmudgeon, is that of paid celebrity endorsement.

Latest celeb to willingly and publicly torpedo personal credibility for cash is actress Patsy Kensit who used her appearance on ITV’s daytime Alan Titchmarsh Show to plug Weight Watchers as part of her role as one of the firm’s paid “Weight Loss Ambassadors”, generating a complaint to regulator Ofcom, which was upheld. The grubby affair has damaged the reputations of Kensit, Weight Watchers, Alan Titchmarsh and ITV, all for a modest amount of money.

Kensit is, of course, not the only sad celeb to supplement her income in this way. Amanda Holden and Dannii Minogue, as “Ambassadors” have also made money from TV mentions of their paymasters, a law firm and a food firm respectively. And it is widely known that in the murky world of football, players are paid by GlaxoSmithKline to be filmed drinking Lucozade.