Go ahead, make fun of Germany’s infatuation with David Hasselhoff. But before you scoff at how campy an entire culture can be, let’s direct our attention inward and examine America’s infatuation with William Shatner—who, incidentally, will be returning as Priceline’s “negotiator” in upcoming ad spots.

That’s right, Priceline knows that America has a strangely loyal relationship with Shatner. The fact that his character will return as spokesman after literally dying in a fiery crash earlier this year brings us a level of joy we haven’t felt since the return of the McRib. PR experts, of course, want to capture the secret behind America’s love for Shatner so they can replicate it, package it and profit from it over and over again.

But we’re hard-pressed to define or explain our nation’s collective affinity for a man who has taken us to the final frontier and back for more than 40 years. Read more

Today Edelman announced that Mark “Don’t Call Me Marky” Wahlberg, actor, producer and co-founder of an aspiring burger chain, will be the newest spokesman for GNC.

Wahlberg’s primary role will be to serve as the public face of MARKED™, a new line of “performance nutrition products” supposedly developed by “leading GNC scientists and wellness experts” in order to meet Mark’s own exacting standards for physical performance.

The Oscar-winning star of films like “The Fighter,” “Boogie Nights” and the Reese Witherspoon showcase “Fear” guarantees fans and fitness buffs that his line of multi-vitamins, powders, protein bars and other supplements will provide a needed edge to both dedicated athletes and weekend warriors who aspire to achieve their sky-high fitness goals.

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We’ve all heard that the trick to life is showing up, but there is much to be said for hanging around too. Just ask Betty White, 90, who has enjoyed a well-deserved resurgence in popularity these past several years. From hosting Saturday Night Live to a run in popular Snickers commercials that aired during the 2010 Super Bowl, Ms. White is parlaying her wit, longevity, and self-deprecating sense of humor into a lucrative career as a spokeswoman.

Tide Vivid White and Bright products has enlisted Ms. White in a slew of humorous commercials that leverage not only her accessible humor but the serendipity of her last name. This article in The New York Times elaborates, “Susan Young, a creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi, said that while Ms. White’s last name was a happy coincidence, the reason she was cast is that her personality represented what Tide Vivid was trying to cultivate.”

In an era when celebrities and other real-life spokespeople appear intractably prone to controversy and poor decisions, Ms. White’s grandmotherly appeal and renegade personality render her almost bulletproof to anything life can throw at her. After all, Ms. White has been there and done that. For Tide, a brand that deals with life’s messes, well, how could it go wrong with Ms. White? That’s savvy PR.

The latest Siri ads starring John Malkovich have debuted, and they’re a departure from the previous Zooey Deschanel/Samuel L. Jackson clips. Actually, all three are pretty different from one another.

Here, Malkovich is doing his Malkovichian thing, giving Siri the word “life” to respond to and laughing at one of the phone’s non-jokes. As The Huffington Post notes, the previous ads have generated “scorn and derision” as well as a lot of talk. It’s likely the new ones will as well.

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Primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall is serving as the spokesperson for Disneynature’s new film Chimpanzee, which follows the story of Oscar and his chimp family in the African forest.

Goodall appeared on the red carpet for the movie’s premiere in Orlando on Friday, and has been making the rounds with the media, including a stop at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Clip after the jump.

Profits from the movie’s opening week will go to the Jane Goodall Institute. Other Disneynature films include Earth and Oceans. Each of the film’s has been accompanied by a charitable donation. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that The Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund has made a total of $20 million in donations. Seriously, how can you resist that little face?

The movie opens this Friday, which is just before Earth Day on Sunday, April 22.

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Since her debut in 2010, we’ve gotten to know T-Mobile’s spokeswoman Carly Foulkes as the effervescent, pink-wearing promoter of T-Mobile goodness. For the latest ads, T-Mobile has turned her into a biker chick, doing away with the floaty dresses and putting her in a leather outfit and helmet.

T-Mobile’s SVP of brand, advertising, and comms tells Mashable that the ad is meant to convey the company’s status as a “challenger brand.”

“The makeover from the girl-next-door to an edgier, more tech-savvy and spirited Carly is synonymous with the evolution of the T-Mobile brand,” he says.

Jezebel, who isn’t a fan of the Foulkes to begin with, isn’t buying it.

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So often these days, we hear stories about people taking to the Internet against this or that issue and exacting change. In that regard, it’s a “man bites dog” story when that script doesn’t play out.

A group called One Million Moms tried to mobilize supporters against JC Penney and its decision to hire openly gay and very popular talk show host Ellen DeGeneres as a spokesperson. Despite numerous appeals from the group, JC Penney decided to stick with DeGeneres. Moreover, people actually went online to congratulate JC Penney and speak against the group, calling them “bullies” and “haters.” This the same week that California struck down its ban on gay marriage and Washington made same-sex marriage legal. We like this a lot.

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While the rest of the nation was going on about all the celebrities in the Super Bowl ads they were watching, viewers in Nebraska (and seemingly only those in North Platte) got a special low-budget Will Ferrell ad for Old Milwaukee beer.

The clip is nothing like the multi-million-dollar ads from last night. It certainly didn’t make it to any lists of top brands for the evening. (Networked Insights says Doritos, Budweiser, and Coke were tops by share of voice.) In fact, Ferrell doesn’t even get to say anything before the ad cuts off.

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This morning, we had a link to the story about David Beckham’s Super Bowl underwear ad for H&M. Now we have video.

Beckham collaborated with H&M on a line of underwear, which will be launched with a smoking clip of the international soccer superstar doing his best D’Angelo impersonation.

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Sam Waterston (duh-duh!!!) had been the spokesperson for TD Ameritrade since 2003. Now the company has a new spokesvoice with the very hot Matt Damon. You can hear his work in the new ad above. The company calls Damon’s voice one of the most “recognizable” in the world, but honestly, if I didn’t know it was him, I probably wouldn’t have been able to guess.

[via Reuters]