ShamWow Stands By Pitchman Vince Despite Prostitution Arrest
Vince Shlomi, better known as the appealing pitchman for Permission Interactive’s ShamWow, was arrested for fighting with an alleged prostitue in February but the company has yet to drop him from its ads. He continues to enthusiastically tout the sucking power of yellow rags on the ShamWow web site, for instance.
Prosecutors declined to press charges in the hooker incident this month, according to The Smoking Gun. Originally, police arrested Shlomi and a woman, Sasha Harris, after they were called to a Miami hotel to quell a fight. According to the police report, Shlomi paid Harris $1,000 for “straight sex” but Harris bit Shlomi’s tongue and would not let go.
(Given that Shlomi’s tongue is his principle means of earning a living you could see how upsetting this might be.) Shlomi then proceeded to beat Harris about the head, police said, and she suffered lacerations and fractures.
Both Shlomi and Harris had their mugshots taken, showing the results of the fight.
Celebrity pitchmen have had their contracts ripped up for less than this. Swimmer Michael Phelps was dropped by Kellogg and Subway after he was photographed huffing on a bong, for instance.
But Phelps/Kellogg are in the high-end world of brand management where tens of millions in sales and media buys are at stake. ShamWow, which airs in direct response spots that generally cost pennies on the dollar, has a lot less to lose. And as its entire business model is direct response, Permission will only back away from Vince if sales of the ShamWow go down.
Note: The second Harris mugshot shows what she looked like following a different arrest, prior to meeting Shlomi.
Jim Edwards, a former managing editor of Adweek, has covered drug marketing at Brandweek for four years, and is a former Knight-Bagehot fellow at Columbia University's business and journalism schools. Follow him on Twitter or send him an email.
BNET User Analysis