Actor In M&Ms Christmas Ad From 1996 Still Making Money From It

Apparently, the actor who played Santa for an M&Ms commercial from 1996 is still making money off of said ad.

You know that one somewhat entertaining Christmas advertisement for M&Ms? The one with the red and yellow candies running into Santa Claus?

Well, apparently the guy staring in that commercial has been collecting a pretty nice check for quite some time now.

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The news comes from Reddit.

User “BarrSteve” had the following to say regarding the long time commercial.

"“My friend is the stuntman who does the fall in this M&Ms commercial. Actors (including stunt performers) are supposed to get a small payment any time their work is shown (“residuals”), but for commercials it’s pretty typical to just get paid 2x your rate up front in exchange for giving up your residuals. When my friend shot this commercial, he refused the extra up-front money and instead chose to keep his residuals. So for the last 18 years he’s been getting somewhere between $5000 and $10,000 in residuals every Christmas. Extra presents for everyone!”"

That is some pretty wise decision making.

Who would have honestly guessed that any particular ad (especially for a company with the sales to validate an updated version each year) would remain on television this long?

It almost makes a person wonder if the original voice actors from the Tootsie Roll ads with the talking owl are eligible for residuals.

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