The girls’ greasy-yet-effective manager created countless branding opportunities, which helped the Olsons earn well into the hundreds of millions of dollars. While they may not be selling quite as many “Mary Kate and Ashley Go To . . .” videos, their prevalence in the public consciousness means they can still sell some goods. A branded line of jewelry actually seems to be a wise progression for them – it’s more mature than Olson lunch boxes, yet its not another celebrity-branded perfume (JLo, Britney, etc).

And while I disagree that their money-making train was ever derailed, consider applying your theory to the career of William Shatner: Who would’ve thought a dot-com start-up could employ an all but forgotten former celebrity as their pitchman, and by playing a caricature of himself in the commercials, that has-been would become a significant actor once again?