That’s because most advertisers these days have written moral clauses into the contracts of their celebrity endorsers, just to make sure they could quickly distance themselves from celebrities who’ve done something, well, bad, and are no longer seen as role models for their respective brands.

One such endorsement deal-breaker is getting involved with drugs. Whether someone exposes them to be drug users or worse, have pictures of them published while taking a hit, they can kiss a fortune in endorsements goodbye, just like the celebrities listed below have done.

1. Kate Moss

Weeks after pictures showing Kate Moss snorting several lines of cocaine in 2005 were made public, clothing retailers H&M, Chanel, and Burberry dropped the hard-partying English supermodel like a hot potato. Surprisingly, after getting out of rehab less than a year later, Calvin Klein, Dior, David Yurman and Louis Vuitton, and even Burberry signed her up for even juicier endorsement deals, helping Moss reach the top of the modeling world once again.

2. Ben Curtis (The Dell Dude)

Actor Ben Curtis became a celebrity of sorts when he starred in those annoying “Dude, You’re Getting a Dell!” ads circa 2000 to 2003. He could have played the hyper-enthusiastic Dell Dude character a few years more had he not been busted for attempting to buy a bag of marijuana in New York City in 2003. Shortly after his arrest, the computer giant dumped Curtis and his ad campaign.

3. Floyd Landis

Floyd Landis was at the top of the world after winning the 2006 Tour de France. But it was all downhill from that point on for the American cyclist when he was found to have used performance enhancing steroids, synthetic testosterone to be exact, during the competition, and he subsequently lost the title, $3 million due to the termination of his contract with erstwhile sponsor Phonak, $2 million in lost endorsements, and nearly $4 million in prospective endorsements of equipment, bike manufacturers, clothing and lifestyle products as reigning Tour de France winner.

4. Michael Phelps

Less than a year after being crowned the greatest Olympian of all time with his 8 gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, Michael Phelps was careless enough to get photographed smoking cannabis from a bong, and it’s a picture that British tabloid News of the World was only all-too-willing to publish earlier this year. Cereal and snack manufacturer Kellogg’s wasted no time and announced that it will not renew its sponsorship contract with Phelps. Many believe Phelps stands to lose more when other brands who have made deals with Phelps take their cue from Kellogg’s. Interestingly, Kellogg’s stock took a significant hit, no pun intended, after they dropped Phelps.

5. Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Lohan was the face of Jill Stuart, but eventually, the fashion line smartened up and dropped Lohan in favor of Oscar-winning actress Hillary Swank. Officially, Swank was hired to replace Lohan in line with Jill Stuart’s decision to go for an “older” star to represent the fashion line. But Lindsay Lohan’s wild partying ways, multiple repeated stints at expensive rehabs and reputation for being a drug user, capped by a published picture purportedly of Lohan doing drugs may have had a hand in Jill Stuart’s decision to dump her.

6. Barry Bonds

Surprisingly for an athlete who shuns media and fans, homerun king Barry Bonds nevertheless snagged endorsement deals worth millions from such corporate giants as MasterCard and KFC, among others. But his popularity with advertisers crashed when he got involved in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) steroid scandal in 2003. In 2007, he was indicted on perjury and obstruction of justice charges for allegedly lying while under oath about his alleged use of steroids.

7. Jason Giambi

Along with Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi was one of the major league baseball players who got embroiled in the 2003 BALCO steroid scandal. But unlike Bonds, who has adamantly denied ever using performance enhancing drugs, Giambi has admitted and publicly apologized for taking steroids. Nevertheless, he still lost lucrative deals, valued at around $3 million annually, with Nike, deodorant brand Arm & Hammer, and soft drink giant Pepsi after coming clean about his steroid use.

8. Justin Gatlin

Sprinter Justin Gatlin has, among other things, won the 100-meter gold medal winner in the 2004 Summer Olympics. As an Olympic and world champion, he stood to earn an estimated $2-4 million in annual endorsements and sponsorships. But in 2006, he tested positive for a banned substance, believed to be testosterone, and was subsequently meted a four-year ban from track and field competitions. Needless to say, Nike, Gatlin’s main sponsor, dropped him from its sponsorship stable a mere three weeks after his doping results came out positive, and prospective advertisers naturally shied away.

Find more on famous drug addicts throughout history, celebs who beat drug addiction, or those who sadly succumbed to the ultimate danger of drugs… overdose.

1. Robert Downey Jr.

Shockingly enough, Robert Downey Jr. was only 6 years old when he first had a taste of marijuana. Growing up in a home where drugs were very accessible, he eventually developed a serious drug problem by the age of 22. The actor battled serious addictions to cocaine, heroin and other drugs. Between 1996 and 2001, Downey was arrested a number of times, and had several stints in drug rehab and in prison. As a result, his very promising career suffered, as producers were not really interested in hiring an otherwise brilliant actor who may at any moment get arrested again for his chronic drug habit.

But since his release from rehab in July 2002, Downey has stayed clean and is currently riding the wave of what could be one of the most amazing Hollywood comebacks of all time. On top of the insanely successful Iron Man, Downey has also scored an Oscar nomination for his turn as an Australian Method actor obsessed with his African-American role in Tropic Thunder. Projects are lined up left and right, and Downey is enjoying the high levels of success that he was always destined for.

2. Drew Barrymore

Long before Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears hogged the headlines with their wild child antics, there was Drew Barrymore. At the age of nine, Drew was already smoking cigarettes. She was an alcoholic at 11, a marijuana smoker by 12, and a cocaine addict by 13. She went to rehab twice, and even attempted suicide when she was 14.

But all that’s in the past now. Her wild child days behind her, Barrymore has grown into a sober, responsible and productive woman. Aside from starring in a slew of hits, she has also become a producer, forming the production company Flower Films with friend and partner Nancy Juvonen in 1995. Her company is responsible for hits like Charlie’s Angels and 50 First Dates. Quite a turnaround for a woman with a childhood as messed up as hers.

3. Charlie Sheen

If there’s one living proof that tough love works, it’s none other than Charlie Sheen. The actor, once dubbed “The Machine” by friends for his insatiable appetite for drugs, alcohol and women, had a taste of this kind of love from his father, Martin Sheen. Before his father intervened, Charlie, who began experimenting with drugs at 11, was a cokehead, and reportedly consumed two quarts of vodka a day.

Then came that fateful day in May 1998, when the younger Sheen, bored out of his mind in his Malibu home decided to try injecting cocaine. He overdosed, and a deeply concerned Martin reported his son to the judge himself. As Charlie was already under probation at that time, the judge issued a warrant for Charlie’s arrest and sent the younger Sheen to rehab.

The intervention saved Charlie’s life. Now 42, he has become one of the highest-paid actors in TV as the star of the sitcom Two and a Half Men. Charlie can only be thankful to his dad for doing what he did, when he did. This is the ideal result of an intervention.

4. Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie has confessed to doing “just about every drug possible”. In a 1998 interview, she admitted to using cocaine, heroin, Ecstasy, LSD and other drugs.

She has since given up drugs long ago, and is now one of the biggest stars in the world, an Oscar-winning actress, a mother of six, and a passionate humanitarian, famed for her work as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency.

5. Robin Williams

People who have seen Robin Williams and his family-friendly films will probably find it hard to believe that the manic comedian was once a cocaine addict. At the beginning of his career, Williams was already a cokehead, and abused a number of different drugs as well. It took the drug overdose death of fellow comedian John Belushi to wake up Williams, who then took the initiative and checked into a rehab center.

After sobering up, Williams went on to star in many comedic hits, and established himself as a serious actor as well, with dramatic turns in The Fisher King and Good Will Hunting, where he won his first and only Oscar award, for Best Supporting Actor.

6. Oprah Winfrey

There are actually two sides to this Oprah-Winfrey-was-a-drug-addict story. On one hand, there’s the unforgettable TV moment in the 90s when she tearfully admitted in her own talk show that she had smoked crack cocaine while in her 20s, but never said anything about an addiction to the drug or anything else. On the other hand, there’s the more recent allegation made in a tell-all book by a former boyfriend that Oprah was actually a regular cocaine user in the 80s, and was in fact under the influence during her show tapings.

Whatever the truth is, it is clear that Oprah has now overcome whatever her drug demons of the 70s and 80s were. As of September 2008, Forbes has listed Oprah as having a fortune worth over $2.7 billion. CNN and Time Magazine dubbed her “arguably the world’s most powerful woman”. She is quite the success story, sordid drug past or not.

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1. Natasha Collins, 31, British television presenter

Natasha Collins was a model, actress, and TV host who was found dead on January 3, 2008 in a bath at the home she shared with domestic partner and TV show co-star Mark Speight, with scalds covering about 60% of her body. According to investigators, Collins had a “‘very significant’ amount of cocaine in her system at the time”, as she and Speight had earlier been “partying” at their home and taken a cocktail of cocaine, sleeping pills and vodka. The lethal combination apparently caused her to fall unconscious in the bath, with the hot water taps running.

2. Christopher Bowman, 40, Olympic figure skater

Figure skater Christopher Bowman was a two-time U.S. national figure champion, a two-time World medalist, and an Olympian twice over, competing in Calgary in 1988 and in Albertville in 1992. But throughout his skating career, he had been suffering from a drug problem, and in fact had checked himself into the Betty Ford Clinic before the 1988 Games. Unfortunately, his drug use eventually got the better of him, when he was found dead on January 10, 2008 in a Los Angeles motel, the victim of an accidental drug overdose.

3. Brad Renfro, 25, actor

One of the more promising young stars of the 1990s, Brad Renfro rose to fame in the film adaptation of the John Grisham thriller The Client. Unfortunately, much of his career was ruined by his habitual substance abuse. A heroin overdose eventually claimed his life on January 15, 2008, at the age of 25.

4. Heath Ledger, 28, actor

The Australian actor, who posthumously won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar recently for his brilliant turn as The Joker in the billion-dollar hit “The Dark Knight”, died of an accidental prescription drug overdose on January 22, 2008. According to the report of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York, Ledger “died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine”, and subsequently ruled the death as an accident.

5. Chase Tatum, 34, professional wrestler

Chase Tatum was known as a former wrestler for World Championship Wrestling, but he also dabbled in other forms of show business, having acted in a comedy film and worked as a road manager and personal assistant to rapper Big Boi of Outkast. A back problem led to a dependency on painkillers, an addiction Tatum had been battling for years, according to his father. Ten days after undergoing back surgery to repair a degenerative disc, he was found dead at his home in Atlanta, Georgia on March 23, 2008, after an apparent accidental drug overdose.

6. Anastasia Blue, 28, porn star

According to reports, porn star Anastasia Blue, who has starred in more than a hundred adult films, died of an apparent suicide, reportedly overdosing on Tylenol on July 19, 2008.

7. Missy, 40, porn star

News of the death of pornographic actress Missy from an accidental prescription drug overdose sometime in August last year was reportedly withheld by her family on purpose so no colleagues and friends of Missy’s from the adult movie business would attend her funeral. Adult Video News eventually reported the story a month later.

8. Steve Foley, 49, drummer

Best known as a former drummer for American rock band The Replacements, Steve Foley was no stranger to drug use, just like almost every other rock musician in the business. But before he died on August 23, 2008 at the age of 49 from an accidental overdose of prescription medicine, he had been sober for 15 years, although he was under medication for depression and anxiety prior to his death.

9. Gidget Gein, 39, musician

Gidget Gein, Marilyn Manson’s former second bassist, was a drug abuser whose personality reportedly became more and more chaotic with his heavy drug use. Ironically, he died of a heroin overdose on October 8, 2008 after a year of being sober.

10. Tiffany Sloan, 35, Playboy model

Tiffany Sloan, who graced the centerfold in the October 1992 issue of Playboy Magazine, died from a drug overdose on November 1, 2008 in Las Vegas. According to people who knew her, Sloan had already been battling drug and alcohol problems for some time before her death.

11. John Odom, 26, professional baseball player

Odom was a minor league pitcher whose name was not familiar among baseball fans, but he achieved some sort of celebrity when he was traded by his team for ten baseball bats. Known to fans as “Bat Man,” “Bat Guy” and “Bat Boy”, Odom was said to have resented the often unwanted attention the humiliating trade showered on him. On November 5, 2008, a deadly combination of heroin, methamphetamine, benzylpiperazine and alcohol killed Odom.

12. Pimp C, 33, rap artist

Rapper Pimp C, born Chad Butler, was often credited for helping define Southern hip-hop. The other half of the Houston-based rap group UGK was found dead in a Hollywood hotel room on December 4. According to police, an accidental overdose of Promethazine/Codeine “syrup”, coupled with Pimp C’s pre-existing medical condition sleep apnea, led to the rapper’s death.

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Know of other celebrities who overdosed on drugs in 2008? Please let us know by adding a comment below and we will add them to the list! Hopefully these tragic losses have one positive aspect, and that is that because of their high profile many people will see the real possibility of drug abuse ending their lives and deeply affecting those around them.