Gwyneth Paltrow is starring in a new ad for Astronomer.
Almost a fortnight after the tech company’s married CEO, Andy Byron, was caught on a Coldplay concert kiss cam with his arms around his HR executive Kristin Cabot, Paltrow has been hired as a “temporary” spokesperson for Astronomer.
The 52-year-old, who was married to Coldplay frontman Chris Martin from 2003 until 2016, appeared in a short video on Astronomer’s social media speaking about the company’s strengths.
“I’ve been hired on a very temporary basis to speak on behalf of the 300-plus employees at Astronomer. Astronomer has gotten a lot of questions over the last few days, and they wanted me to answer the most common one,” she says in the ad.
The first question, “OMG! What the actual f***?”, then appeared on the screen in writing.
However, she dodged the question and plugged the company’s products: “We’ve been thrilled so many people have a newfound interest in data workflow automation.”
The next question to Astronomer was, “How is your social media team holding …”
However, Paltrow moved on before the whole question could be asked.
“Our focus will shift back to our core strength—providing transformative outcomes for our clients. We appreciate your interest in Astronomer,” she stated.
The video was captioned: “Thank you for your interest in Astronomer.”
Social media users chimed in after the video was released, with tech journalist Neville Lahiru saying: “Getting Chris Martin’s ex-wife was a genius move lol.”
PR and communications consultant Ronke Lawal lauded the move as an “engaging way to handle a PR crisis” and “socially relevant without being too corny and cringe.”
Another user, Matt Brian, commented: “Marketing genius. Owning the Coldplay kiss cam video *and* hiring Chris Martin’s ex-wife? Splendid.”
At Coldplay’s 15 July concert near Boston, a cameraman panned across the crowd and showed Byron and Cabot in an embrace.
In a video shared to TikTok, as the couple frantically tried to dodge the camera, frontman Martin could be heard saying: “Oh, look at these two. All right, c’mon, you’re okay.
“Oh, what? Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”
Both Byron and Cabot have since resigned from the company.
