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Comment by caseyohara | Hacker News Reader

Very strange that Simone Biles (the olympic gymnast) is Chief Impact Officer at Cerebral, front and center on the homepage.

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Not to sound silly - but how is it strange? They offered her 6+ figures to use her name and then they used her name… seems relatively straightforward. Mayim Bialik is hocking “brain pills”; Matt Damon, Snoop, and every other celebrity is hocking crypto currencies. Most celebrities will put their names on almost anything if the price is right.

Those are commercials, those companies aren't lying to people that celebrities are actually involved with the companies.

If they give her a nominal position, seems like they probably aren’t lying here?

I mean, can anyone without looking it up, say exactly what the typical job responsibilities for the Chief Impact Officer in a typical company is?

I would guess that her "job" is to have a recognizable name and face that they can put on her advertising, and probably to not go around committing crimes or doing things that would make her name less valuable to the public at large in the process.

https://www.3dsystems.com/press-releases/3d-systems-appoints...

Serious question: what the hell is a chief impact officer? Isn't former prince Harry also one for some startup? Is it basically just an celebrity spokesperson?

When I see stuff like that, I instantly take the company less seriously or ignore them unless the person in charge is someone eccentric like Elon. At least he is capable of running his company in a ruthlessly effective way even with wonky titles and shenanigans.

Chief Impact Officer at SpaceX would be an entirely different role I feel. :)

When I see someone endorse Elon Musk, I instantly take them less serious and avoid getting into into discussions with them, unless they own a Model X. At least it means they're capable of purchasing low-quality luxury goods....?

Yes, that's what it is.

I don't know what a Chief Impact Officer is.

However, Harry is not a "former" prince - he is still Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and sixth in line to the throne.

Didn't he have to give up royal titles when he abdicated? Why do I even know this...

He didn’t abdicate (nor can he). He just became a “non active” family member. The title is conferred by birth not by job - so he is very much still Prince Harry!

I feel like people stopped giving credibility to celebrity endorsement in the traditional form because they know celebrities are just getting paid to read a script, so companies had to come up with something that signals a deeper relationship with the brand, and that something is this phony C-level position. The celebrities also benefit from being able to add "entrepreneur" to their Instagram bios. I believe this trend started with Intel and it's "Chief Innovation Officer" (or something like that) Will.i.am a couple of years ago

A way to give a C-suite job to someone who was "homeschooled", has a degree from an online school she is a "brand ambassador" for, and zero professional experience.

"chief X officer" seems to be the new "director" or "VP" type title.

I personally know one of those!

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