What Is The Jackie Chan Curse?

You can always count on Jackie Chan to perform cool martial arts moves and astonishing stunts when it comes to his movies. The Hong-Kong-born martial artist and stuntman has appeared in countless movies in Asia and even popularized kung fu entertainment in U.S. theaters. However, the same success cannot be said about the commercials he has done for different products throughout the years, and this has sparked the urban legend of the Jackie Chan curse.

Rumors of the curse reportedly first spread in China and eventually reached Taiwan and Hong Kong, per Nikkei Asia. As said, companies that hire Jackie Chan to advertise their products are doomed to fail. For instance, the martial artist appeared in a video game console commercial in 1994, but the product never became successful. Next was his 1996 commercial for a video player, which was briefly a success before sales declined due to the decreasing market for VCD players, and the company eventually went bankrupt.

Another set of items that Jackie Chan has endorsed that became a center of controversies was BaWang's line of herbal hair care products, which were found to have carcinogenic ingredients. As a result, the company's stock prices dipped, according to Shanghaiist. Other incidents blamed on the Jackie Chan curse include bacteria in frozen dumplings, and the failing sales of a cola brand (via Hong Kong Free Press.)

The media couldn't help but talk about the Jackie Chan curse, especially in Asia, adding more fuel to the fire. In fact, an editorial in a newspaper described Jackie Chan as "the coolest spokesperson in history," finishing the statement by calling Chan, "a man who can destroy anything," as reported by the Korea Herald. However, this isn't true at all as Jackie Chan has a lot of other endorsements that have had no problems reported whatsoever, including cameras, food products, drinks, and services.

An analyst, Saurabh Sharma, said that the explanation for the product failures and bankruptcies associated with Jackie Chan's endorsements simply stems from the high number of advertisements that the actor has under his belt. "When you have someone with so many brands, the probability of things going wrong is markedly higher. It's rare to be in the industry for so long and also be clear of controversy," the analyst said, per the Los Angeles Times.

Despite talks of the curse, Jackie Chan still has several endorsements and works as a spokesperson for different products.