The Negotiator no longer works for Priceline

Posted by Theresa Milano On Thursday, January 19th 2012 in International

After a contract of 14 years, William Shatner is no longer going to be the spokesperson of Priceline. The travel agency is apparently going to use Captain Kirk in one, explosive, final add that will appear on screen on Monday. In the add Shatner’s character The Negotiator is saving from a bus standing on a bridge’s railing.

“Save yourselves — some money,” he said, giving his phone to a passenger just as he and the bus fall in a dry creek bed. An explosion follows soon afterward.

“I’m in grief mode,” Shatner told the Association Press. “It’s not the first time I’ve had an iconic character die off … It was a great run. [But] if the management says this is the end, this is the end.”

The man has promoted Priceline for a very long time. The company has a discount-booking site which it wants to see promoted in a better way.

“It’s a tough decision, but the bottom line is Priceline had to do it,” said Peter Sealey, the adjunct professor at the Claremont Graduate University’s school of management. “They’re changing their business model from a name-your-price model to a fixed-price approach. Had he been less effective, he could have been allowed to fade away.”

Sealey added: “I don’t know if I would have gone as far as the bus exploding.”

The Shat still has a contract with the company at the moment. He said that if the company decides to use him again: “I’m going to make them pay through the nose.”