Advertisers themselves had, in limited ways, been using celebrity endorsements—as early as the nineteenth century, Pears' soap billed itself as the choice of the royal family. But the testimonials for patent medicines from renowned "doctors" as well as grateful patients had queered the practice of testimonials for the most part. And so it took a bit of daring for J. Walter Thompson Company, at Lansdowne's direction, to resurrect it for Pond's cold cream, originally marketed not as a beauty product but as a spot remover.

Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, loc. 222