Is Justin Bieber the Best Thing to Ever Happen to Proactiv?

By Jo Piazza Posted Aug 20th 2010 10:20AM

The zit erasing medicine Proactiv realized a long time ago that celebrities make us want to buy things. Somehow they were able to convince a stable of celebs to shill for their skin cleansing line, despite the fact that most famous folks shy away from being attached to products that can be seen as embarrassing (laxatives, tampons, etc.).

Formerly pimply celebs who have appeared in Proactiv ads include Jessica Simpson, Katy Perry, Mandy Moore, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs and Alicia Keys.

Proactiv's most recent coup is teen sensation Justin Bieber, who recently signed on as a spokesperson for the brand. But did the acne company have any idea of the awesomeness they were tapping into when they brought on the Biebs? If they didn't before they certainly do now, and you can bet a bunch of suits with really great skin have been high-fiving each other this week.

On the day it was unveiled, Bieber's endorsement clip received 125,000 views on YouTube and another 500,000 views on Proactiv's website, Billboard magazine reveals in its upcoming issue.

And the deal was worth it for the Biebs, who is set to receive $3 million over two years for his endorsement, an industry source revealed to Billboard. Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, said that his client signed on with the brand because Justin actually uses it. "I never want to do anything with Justin's brand that isn't organic. He isn't manufactured." (P.S. We love it when a celeb manager has the cajones to refer to their client as a brand.)

During the initial negotiations, Braun pointed out a zit on Bieber's face to the Proactiv team. The Biebs got mad and stalked away.

The 16-year-old's team originally asked for a figure that was more than Proactiv thought the singer was worth. The company changed their mind after seeing the enormous response to his 'My World' album and approached Bieber's team a second time.

His Internet appeal is largely why Guthy-Renker, which markets and sells Proactiv, chose Bieber. They're banking on Bieber Fever to drive sales in a big way with the teen girl market. Roughly 60 percent of Proactiv sales are over the Internet. Most of the orders that have come in since Bieber signed on have been from the mothers of tweens.

"Are 12-year-old girls going to buy Proactiv? No. They ask their mom to buy Proactiv. In the last 24 hours, we've had mothers buying it, which is what we wanted to occur," said Greg Renker, co-founder of Guthy-Renker.

The company chose the smooth-skinned singer, who has never had a real problem with acne, to push their new prevention line, Proactiv Plus. "I'm using this product every day because I don't want to get acne," Bieber says in the campaign.

And if it's good enough for him, you can bet it will be good enough for at least a million teenage girls.

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Tags: justin bieber, proactiv

Comments

(38)

Friday 20 August

By the great master

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Hate on the little white boy all you want. This is a great move for him, and a HUGE move for proactive. He keeps this up and stays off the drugs he'll be in showbiz for a long, long time.

By Peckerwood

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Some one throw a bottle at that kid's head. Oh wait, that all ready happened.

By Mike

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I want to know what happened to the singers with real talent. This kid is NOT attractive, and his hair looks like he's wearing a helmet. I think it's TOO funny to see all these guys who try to have Justin's style. As for Proactiv, it's just a money machine with NO benefit to the customers.

By debbie

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He will never be a Michael Jackson. R.I.p. Michael

By MM

KT I don't know if you are a 12 year old girl, a Middle Age woman, or a Gay man but seriously you need to get educated on who is talented and who is not. Justin lip sings, never sings live, looks like he can be Ellen Degeneres's son, is 4ft tall (at the most), and is OVERKILLED!! To sum it up he has no talent and will probably end up in rehab by 20. Sorry to break it to you ma'am or dude lol

By KT

I think you need to be educated about Justin..Justin wasnt manufactured he was already a star on youtube before usher discovered him .All those videos were done with a plain old video camera all live no studio trickery just Justins pure voice and guitar or what ever instrument he decided to play at 12 years old.There is no stopping a SUPERSTAR !!! YAYYY JUSTIN !!!

By mw

KT, your the pizza face, oh wait your probably not old enough to have zits, Yet, better order Proactiv soon. LOL

AWWWW DID I HIT A NERVE..HAHAHAHA PIZZAFACE!!! MY SKIN IS PURE AND SWEET LIKE JUSTIN ..YAYYY JUSTIN !!!!

By JimDaddy

To be troopful,eye liked Justin Bieber better when he played in the John Wayne movie'True Grit" as Glen Campbells daughter.

By wrangler003

Good one, I believe you got that right.

By Rod

How does one "be troopful?" Is that a military term?

Sunday 22 August

By Peggy

I am sorry but I don't know what all the hype is about...he looks like he is about 12 and hasn't lived enough to sing songs about life....he really can't be taken seriously, he's such a baby...don't know what the young girls see in him because he looks like a girl...maybe that's it...they want him to be their BFF....

By bimbo

maybe if he rubbed proactive all over his body, he'd disappear

MM, you're the one who's confused if you think you're the be-all end-all to say who people should like. Besides, anyone who claims to know anything about music should know the term you're probably trying to use is "lip sync" not "lip sing."

Go ahead and listen to whoever you want to listen to, and try to understand that different people have different opinions.

By LOL

Dear Popeater,

Me and my friends JP, KY, MW, MM, and Peckerwood are tired of reading about Justin Bieber. In the future maybe you could put his name in the title of the article or on the link, so we'd know the story is about him before we click on it, and we wouldn't have to read it? Thank you.

Bonbon

P.S. Oh wait, my granddaughter said you guys do that already so never mind.

By ms

my five year old thinks that he is the greatest! My five year is a long way from needing acne medication. I dont believe that He is 16. Hell he doesnt even look like he has hit puberty. But whatever..im not hating on him.

Saturday 21 August

By Monique

That hair has to go. He looks like a girl who wants to be a boy.

Monday 23 August

By IT'S THAT GUY

Zits? You'd think that with all we've invested into genetic engineering and eugenics that we as a populace would be able to cultivate -perfect- celebrities.

Well, I guess we're going to have to toss this one out; that blemish is, well, a blemish!

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