10 Movie Characters Who Lived On In Commercials

3. Ellen Ripley

We feel like we should keep reminding you, however, that it could always be worse. Ferris Bueller is an iconic character, sure, but only to certain audiences, and only for one (admittedly superb) film. His legacy isn't quite as far-reaching as some of the other famous characters that have been resurrected and force to perform a macabre undead dance to make money for a huge corporation. Part of the reason the Star Wars ones are go sad, besides the inherent surreal feel of such magical characters plopped into our grim reality, is because these are fictional creations with a real cultural reach and recognition factor. Sure, that's why they get picked to front these commercials in the first place, but there's something incredibly cynical about taking a beloved character and basically hijacking your positive associations with them to sell you stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBQze6nvtio The nice thing is that that can backfire. Whilst initially you might smile at an old friend being brought back, even for an advert, the content of said advert could just as easily stoke a fiery passion of rage that said old friend is being forced to shill for a big company. That's almost certainly how you'll feel after having watch the thirty-second spot for DirecTV which uses advanced computer magic to manipulate the climax of Aliens so that Ellen Ripley, Sigourney Weaver's character who starred in every Alien film and was a trailblazer for strong female leads in genre cinema, turns to the camera before dealing with the vicious xenomorph queen and suggests that maybe you should think about changing your cable package. Ripley, why are you telling us this. All your friends are dead. That big evil alien is threatening to kill the little orphan girl you've pretty much adopted. We know what happens to her by Alien 3 but you don't, so why are you wasting time trying to sell us stuff when you need to be kicking ass??