Rossi Named Top Italian Endorser

In a feature in the June 9 edition of Panorama magazine, a popular mainstream Italian weekly, MotoGP Champion Valentino Rossi was named as Italy’s top celebrity endorser. According to the article, Rossi earns 1.35 million euros (about $1.64 million) for his endorsement of the Peroni beer’s Nastro Azzuro (which means “Blue Ribbon”).

“It’s obvious that Valentino Rossi is Scrooge McDuck,” the article says. “His continuing MotoGP victories from the seat of his Yamaha, and his enormous popularity, have enabled him to land a contract for 1.35 million per year for advertising an Italian beer, Peroni, with the slogan, ‘There’s more pleasure in being Italian,” pronounced with that unmistakable Pesaro accent.”

Tied for second on the list are television-show host Paolo Bonolis, who pulls down a million euros (about $1.21 million) for endorsing Lavazza coffee, and Juventus soccer player Alessandro del Piero, who earns the same amount for endorsing Uliveto bottled water.