Andre Agassi flogs kitchenware ‘like a champion’

Is Andre Agassi’s emergence as the face of Silvercrest household appliances the most historic development at the sports/kitchenware interface since George Foreman switched on his first grill? 

It’s right up there, surely. Competitive field, though. In recent times, stars as wide-ranging as Thierry Henry, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Peter Crouch have agitated determinedly on behalf of various counter-top desirables. And David Beckham (“known for his passion for cooking”, the company remind us) has now served two years as the global ambassador for SharkNinja, drawing our attention to such culinary aids as the Ninja Blendboss Tumbler Blender. Yet it’s Foreman’s name which, after more than 30 years, still dominates the sportspeople-flogging-kitchen-stuff conversation whenever it breaks out in the pubs and clubs.

With honorary mentions, of course, for Jack Nicklaus, who partnered powerfully with his wife, Barbara, in support of Magic Chef microwaves. That was the 1970s, though - different times, not just for cooking, but for sportsmen in the kitchen. In one of the ads, Nicklaus was seen stepping in from the garden (pausing, naturally, to drop a putter into the bag of clubs standing just inside the back door), but only after Barbara had finished explaining to the viewer the full labour-saving advantage of the Magic Chef Touch Minder oven – a labour-saver so advantageous, indeed, that, in combination with Barbara, it seemed to be saving Jack from doing any meal-prep at all, leaving him free to concentrate on playing golf in his garden, in his golf clothes, as all the top pros do. 

Along came Foreman, though, with his “Lean Mean Grilling Machine” and Nicklaus’s brief spell as an oven-salesman became a distant relic. And now here’s Agassi, carefully chopping vegetables in what may or may not be his own kitchen, and also vacuuming and ironing, before smiling warmly in support of a set of copylines for Lidl’s main supplier of domestic hardware: “Heat up your game like a champion”, “Laundry like a champion”, etc. Note the bold appropriation of Foreman’s hallowed “Grill like a champion” tagline. 

However, the iron, the air-fryer, the vacuum… I wonder whether this diversity from Agassi might in the end prove a weakness. True, Foreman has latterly ventured into outdoor pizza ovens, and I also note that his website is currently offering guidance around the construction of some “chocolate banana and peanut butter wraps”. Essentially, though, it’s fair to say that if it isn’t designed to singe meat, it’s unlikely to form part of the Foreman commercial world-view – a laser-like focus which surely more than partly accounts for the boxer’s pre-eminence in this area.

Moreover, Foreman brought to market a genuine innovation - the slanted grilling surface and “floating hinge” system by which both sides of the meat grill at once, with maximum fat-drainage – and I’m not seeing anything as powerfully game-changing in Agassi’s work for Silvercrest. He’s not reinventing the saucepan – even though he poses holding one like a racket, complete with authentic Agassi double-handed grip. 

Also Foreman didn’t delegate his ambassadorship to any pets. (In the Silvercrest ads, Agassi has a non-speaking role; a cat and a dog chat.) Indeed, Foreman spoke so firmly on behalf of his product that the advertising slogan he used rings down through the ages: “It’s so good I put my name on it.” By contrast, Agassi’s subliminal message is essentially: “It’s so good I got an actor to tell you about it through the character of my dog.” I may not be alone in finding this less persuasive in the long run. 

Early days, though, so let’s see how things develop. But meanwhile, from a historic perspective, who endorsed it best? Tempting to say Barb Nicklaus, if only belatedly to apportion her some credit for her pioneering work in breaking into what remains, perhaps counter-intuitively, a defiantly male realm. Yet, sentiment and politics aside, Foreman is clearly the appliance endorsement GOAT, for getting behind the product (literally) and looking like he means it. Grilling like a champion is one thing; endorsing like a champion, however… A few things still to learn there, Andre. 

And you, too, David, with all respect.

Photograph by Margaret C. Norton/NBCU Universal / Getty Images