Paid celebrity endorsement in health promotion: a case study from Australia

In late 1998, Australian cricketer Shane Warne was allegedly paid A$200 000 (pound 78 060, US$123 000) by a pharmaceutical company to publicize his attempt to stop smoking. Warne failed to stop, and his continuing smoking remained newsworthy more than a year later. The arrangement caused considerable media controversy about the ethics of payment for charitable or socially worthy actions. This paper explores the community's reaction to payment for modelling a healthy behaviour, discussing the values that Warne transgressed and whether these mattered, given that the campaign caused an unprecedented rise in the use of nicotine replacement therapy.