Lindsay Lohan is back — just in time for Christmas.
Just before 10 a.m. PST Wednesday, LiLo, in her first post since Nov. 26, took to her Twitter account and said “50% off on Gift Card from Organize and free shipping, Today only. Hurry >> http://lx.im/6XTF– ad.”
Not exactly Shakespeare or even the words of Tina Fey from the once acclaimed “Mean Girls” star. And it wasn’t just once; throughout the day, the sponsored post reappeared again and again.
Lohan’s return to her old habit of shilling on social media comes as no surprise, in no small part becuase of the actress’ lack of recent work. She needs the money.
The surprise is why now and why would anyone hire her?
“Sure, Lindsay’s got a lot of followers on Twitter,” a brand strategist who has worked frequently with the entertainment industry told TheWrap, “but why anyone would want her to promote their product for Christmas is beyond me … she’s damaged goods.”
A spokesman for TaDa, the company behind the link Lohan tweeted, had no comment on Lindsay’s work for the company or how much she was paid. “We do not work directly Lindsay, nor have any direct affiliation with her. She belongs to a promotion network, Mylikes, where TaDa publishes its sale content,” Mary Yee, VP of Marketing at Shopzilla Inc, owners of TaDa, told TheWrap later Wednesday. “Lindsay must have seen our sale today, liked it, and chose to promote it.”
While Lohan, who perhaps needs some dough for Christmas presents, isn’t prominently mentioned on MyLikes, a number of stars in her circle are. The site pushes “Featured Influencers” celebs like Snoop Dogg, Khloe Kardashian, Audrina Patridge and Jon Gosselin. It is not much of a leap to presume that their payout is a bit more than $50 the site promises on average for each product they promote.
Lohan, who has tweeted diet aids, home décor and websites like Beyond The Rack and Fashion Bay, among others, has been estimated to make somewhere between $2, 985 and $10,000 to promote products to her more than 1.4 million Twitter followers.
Not that there’s been a lot of that lately.
After a whirlwind drama of court appearances, missing passports, warrants, SCRAM bracelets, recused judges, fired and rehired lawyers, failed drug tests and rehab, Lohan, who has been in treatment five times since 2007, was ordered to stay at the Betty Ford Clinic until Jan. 3, 2011, by Judge Elden Fox on Oct. 22.
Ever since, things have been fairly quiet on the LiLo front. With the frequent tweeter silent in treatment, the usual media circus that accompanies her every stumble and move, both on- and offline, is left with little to chase. With the exception of accompanied limited excursions from Betty Ford with family and friends, the most attention the actress has received recently was losing (or leaving, depending on whom you ask) her lead role in the Linda Lovelace biopic “Inferno.”
In fact, until Wednesday’s tweet, the last time Lindsay spoke to the world digitally was on Nov. 26 when the actress was enjoying Thanksgiving with her family on a 15-hour pass Betty Ford granted her.
LiLo obviously had more than turkey on her mind.
“RT @TomCruise: RT @KimmieC88: @TomCruise Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around,” wrote Lohan on Twitter from her Blackberry, “Sofia~Vanilla Sky. LOVE this quote!”
Bet Lindsay would really love is for Cruise to give her a job.
