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Kobe Bryant Becomes the Face of Turkish Airlines, and Kim Kardashian Isn't Happy About It

December 15, 2010 at 9:00 AM | by | Comments (0)

Airlines in the United States usually don’t have too much extra cash hanging around to sign on famous celebrities and athletes, but that doesn’t appear to be the case for overseas carriers. This week, Turkish Airlines announced that in exchange for a whole bunch of lira, Kobe Bryant would serve as the airline’s global brand ambassador.

For the next two years, Kobe will make appearances and show up in advertisements across the globe to share the benefits of Turkish Airlines with the world. We don’t know if it’s going to make the carrier one of the world's most popular, but at least we now know about their new nonstop service from Los Angeles to Istanbul. There will be four flights per week beginning next March, and we bet Kobe will be on board one of them to shoot hoops at the Atatürk Airport, or in Europe and Asia at the same time.

Keep an eye on your TV, as most of the airline’s cash is going towards advertisements which will air both at home and in the Middle East early in 2011. We can already see plenty of opportunities to brag about their in-flight legroom in some of the premium cabins.

A celebrity signing on to do overseas advertisements is nothing new, but not all are happy with Kobe Bryant’s decision to hook up with Turkish Airlines. We’re not going to get into the politics of the situation, so we’ll let Kim Kardashian—she’s Armenian-American—tell the story. She’s not too pleased with Turkey or Kobe’s decision, and is busy urging her Twitter followers to get Congress to pass a resolution recognizing Armenian deaths in Turkey during the first part of the 20th century as genocide.

We’ll let Kobe and Kim discuss worldly issues over Twitter, but long story short, expect some legroom advertisements for Turkish Airlines when 2011 rolls around.

[Photo: Turkish Airlines]

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