Movie star and international playboy George Clooney's latest foray into car advertising shows him speeding off in a Mercedes E-Class limousine around China in an apparent attempt to make happy fun time with a Chinese woman. But why?

It's just the continuation of a time-honored trend where normally ad-averse American celebrities with global appeal (Harrison Ford and Clooney pal Brad Pitt among them) can pick up a quick check doing a spot that will never be broadcast on these shores: an easy, well-paying day's work done without blemishing a certain façade of A-list too-good-for-that pseudointegrity. (This worked a bit better in the pre-YouTube era.)

And maybe the Chinese economy is getting to the point where working in an Eames-showcase office - with Ethan Hawke as your AA - and dating a now-unattached megastar who can gracefully avoid the world's slowest paparazzi in a Chinese-market-preferred stretch-executive sedan (with disposable chauffeur) is not unthinkable for the modern female post-Maoist power player. Still absurd, granted, but the power of aspirational purchasing can never be denied.

Success is where you find it –- in either case, it's apparently found somewhere between the Celestial Empire and the id.

H/T to copyranter!