Ben Stein’s commercials cost him his job

The other day I noted what an odd choice it was for Ben Stein to pimp himself out to FreeScore.com as commercial spokesman. Word is out now that Stein’s work as spokesperson for this “free” credit report site has done more than reflect poorly on his career choices, it’s gotten him fired from one of his many employers, The New York Times. Gawker has the official pronouncement from the Old Gray Lady herself:

Ben Stein’s fine work for us as a columnist for Sunday Business had to end, we told him, after we learned that he had become a commercial spokesman for FreeScore, a financial services company … We decided that being a commercial spokesman for FreeScore while writing his column wouldn’t be appropriate. (via Pitchman Ben Stein Gets Economist Ben Stein Fired from The New York Times – Gawker.com)

And while I just thought that being a spokesman for one of these sites was a bad career choice for the limited, but sometimes funny Ben Stein the actor, Felix Salmon at Reuters has some great info about just how questionable a company FreeScore.com isand why Ben Stein the economist should be embarrassed.