'Life is short. Have an affair.' Beating around the bush is not part of the agenda for controversial dating service AshleyMadison.com. The site that offers 'non-singles' the chance to hook up with 'their kind', surveyed more than 30,000 US citizens to zero in on two of the most desirable celebrities they would most like to have an extramarital affair with.

For a business that has been denied a television spot on American channels, and one that has been accused of "being built on the back of broken hearts", the survey is a marketing strategy that has worked well. Though, they're by no means the first, and certainly not the last to cash on the obvious clout of movie stars. Closer home, we need only switch on our TV sets to find products ranging from fairness creams to coffee being hawked by the Bollywood brigade.