Sony Signs Fame-Hungry Julia Allison for Ads; Does It Know What It's in For?

(MoneyWatch) 

• UPDATE: There Is Such a Thing as Bad Publicity, and Julia Allison Wants It Scrubbed From the Web

Sony has signed internet "celebrity" Julia Allison to appear in ads (by 180 in Los Angeles) for its products, a move that will no doubt attract some attention for Sony, not necessarily the right kind.

For those unfamiliar with Allison, she's officially a "columnist" but actually makes a living promoting herself, in any medium, for any reason. Whether it's spanking a male stripper's butt or wearing a mini-dress made out of condoms (see gallery below), Allison is as much a shameless scorn-object as she is a celebrity. Stuart Redsun, Sony's svp marketing, expressed this logic for its choice:

All talent were chosen for their high public profiles, and because like Sony, they are leaders in their respective fields.

Fair enough. In the field of being famous for absolutely no other reason than wanting to be famous, Allison is indisputably a leader.

It will be interesting if Allison has to sign a standard "morals clause" contract for her ads -- that's the section of standard endorsement deals that gives the client the right to drop a star if they attract negative attention. Because, as you can see from the photos of Allison below, she has a tendency to do the strangest things.

Hat tip to Valleywag.

Image above by Flickr user shankbone, CC.
UPDATE: The original version of this item included a photo gallery of various pictures of Allison. In July 2010, more than 11 months after they were published, Allison contacted BNET and claimed the photos all belonged to her and were in violation of her copyrights. BNET agreed to remove the photos. However, most of them are available elsewhere on the web, so I've replaced them with descriptions and links to alternate versions. (Or you could just Google them. They're all over the place.)

1. Photo of Julia Allison wearing a mini-dress made mostly out of condom wrappers.

2. Photo of Julia Allison wearing nothing but black panties and a bra, sitting in the lap of an old man. She is sucking on his cigar, which he is holding in her mouth.

3. Photo of Julia Allison standing with her back to a mirror, wearing only a pink bra and black panties.

4. Photo of Julia Allison wearing the condom dress, showing her backside to the camera, underwear visible.

5. Photo of Julia Allison wearing white pants and a white bikini top, riding a horse in the sea.

6. Photo of Julia Allison with a sweaty male stripper who's wearing only a thong lying in her lap. She is enthusiastically spanking the dancer.
7. Photo of Julia Allison in a pink "debutante" style dress, lying on a sofa. The dress is pulled up around her knees.