So, let's pretend you're running for President. It's 1912. You need to work on your public image, and you want to get something out there in the press which just screams 'future leader'. There won't be any such thing as televised Presidential campaigns for at least seventy years, and social media won't be an option for almost another century. So, what do you do?
If you're anything like President Theodore Roosevelt, you have the New York Tribune run a picture of you bravely crossing a flooded river on the back of your pet moose. It's not as bizarre as it sounds; the moose was the symbol of the Progressive Party, who Roosevelt stood for. The most amazing thing, though, is that it's fake. An expert from the firm Underwood and Underwood painstakingly cut around a picture of Roosevelt on horseback, stuck it onto a picture of a moose in a river, and reprinted the composite image. Everyone fell for it. It's not just the Millennials who use filters!
To insure one’s house, one’s car or to underwrite a life insurance policy, that is common practice. But who would pay an insurance premium for his/her thumb, legs or smile? Stars, of course.
At the top of the ranking are the legs of Mariah Carey, worth 810 million USD: The diva became, in 2006, the Gillette brand muse for the advertising campaign «Legs of a Goddess». She then took out an insurance policy with London Lloyds to protect her legs, a decision that is far from being insignificant. Among its customers, the London insurer then included several icons of music, such as Bob Dylan or Rod Stewart.
David Beckham’s body insured for 195 million USD: European champion with Manchester United in 1999, David Beckham was in 2006 the most renowned footballer of the planet. In relation to his sporting activities, he took out an insurance cover for his legs. The huge amount paid for his insurance would reportedly exceed the 103 million USD disbursed by Real Madrid for the cover of Christiano Ronaldo in 2009. The fashion model would later extend his insurance cover to his entire body.
15 million USD in insurance for Kim Kardashian’s curves: The curves of Kim Kardashian are her number one beauty asset. The reality TV star, who is crazy about plastic surgery, has underwritten an insurance policy worth 15 million USD to protect her famous butt.
The culinary critic Egon Ronay assured his taste buds: The famous Hungarian culinary critic has insured his taste buds since 1957, for the amount of 400 000 USD. An original insurance policy which allows him to cover his sense of taste without which he will no longer be able to practice his job.