Connected Celebs tweeting, doing their own laundry

A week ago, I tweeted: “@mbearn and I r Samsung people, but I’m calling B.S. on @IMKristenBell & @daxshepard1 doing their own laundry. Suspension of disbelief? ;)”.

Of course, I was referring to the commercials for Samsung appliances featuring actors Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard. The commercials often feature the real life married couple sweetly bantering back and forth while performing household chores.

In this ad, they’re hocking washers and dryers.

After seeing the commercial several times, I told my wife (she’s the @mbearn in my snarky tweet) there’s no way Bell and Shepard actually do their own laundry. They’re big-time movie stars. They’re married with kids. They obviously pay someone to do this stuff.

My wife and I have four kids, and laundry is always a disaster. If we were rich and famous movie stars, we would pay someone to do the Earnheardt family laundry. It’s awful.

To my surprise, Shepard, who starred as Crosby Braverman in NBC’s drama “Parenthood,” tweeted back: “We do our own laundry. Trust me. And it never ends.”

I was a little surprised Shepard tweeted me back. Before our brief interaction, I wasn’t a huge fan, and I only knew a little about him from conversations with my wife (she’s my pop culture encyclopedia).

But that he took the time to call me on my 140-character missive was important. It showed that he’s a loyal, albeit paid, brand ambassador for Samsung.

More importantly, he’s engaged with his Twitter fan base.

His tweet was followed by one from my wife: “If @IMKristenBell @daxshepard1 say they do it, I believe!”

A few minutes later, Bell tweeted: “I’m workin on a batch of dirtys as we speak.”

This tweet included a picture of a clearly peeved Bell holding a basket of dirty laundry. Of course, I couldn’t tell if she was upset with me for questioning the sincerity of those delightful commercials or annoyed that she was actually washing clothes on a Wednesday night.

This opened the door to many supportive tweets for the actors, including one from my friend Matt Stone at WFMJ: “Nice! The professor got called out by a make-up free Anna. Detroit folk do their own laundry!”

Stone was referring to the character Anna from the Disney animated movie Frozen, and the fact that Bell wasn’t wearing make-up.

Bell is attractive without make-up, but the fact that she let someone (Shepard?) snap and post this image is a fantastic representation of what it means to be a brand ambassador.

And Samsung has clearly hit brand ambassador pay dirt with Bell and Shepard.

My wife was quick to point out that there should be some level of retribution for calling out someone on Twitter, and losing.

“I think @adamearn should be on Team Earnheardt laundry duty all week. Punishment for questioning your integrity.”

Lesson learned.

Dr. Adam Earnheardt is chair of the department of communication at Youngstown State University. Read his blog at adamearn.com and follow him on Twitter at @adamearn.