Sports Advertisers: Granting Second Chances or About the Money?

Posted on May 7th, 2008. Written by Emmett Jones.

Flashback time! In July of 2003 Kobe Bryant was accused of sexual assault in Colorado. At the time, Kobe was everywhere, and arguably the most well-spoken, marketable player in the NBA. Endorsement deals with Nike, McDonalds, and Sprite, among others were proof of his star power. Then the allegations of sexual assault occurred. Endorsers ran away in droves, many believed that any chance Kobe had at big time endorsement deals had waived good-bye (except for Nike & Upper Deck, which never cut ties with Bryant).

Flash-forward! In May of 2008, he was awarded the NBA’s most valuable player award. Welcome back endorsement deals! From Darren Rovell,

Well, despite the cry from marketers at the time that Bryant wouldn’t get another blue chip deal again, Bryant–who will pick up his first MVP award tonight–inked a small deal with Sony to be on the cover of their basketball video game, NBA ’07. And there’s chatter that Sony execs are currently exploring a bigger deal with the Los Angeles Lakers star.

Add to that the fact that one of his old standbys is giving him a second chance. Bryant is now endorsing Vitaminwater, the Glaceau brand which was purchased from Coke for $4.1 billion last year. Bryant’s first appearance for Vitaminwater was on the inside cover of last week’s Sports Illustrated.

Rovell goes on to say that other endorsement deals may be in the works, including a special edition MVP Wheaties box. Now, I’m not here to pass judgment on Bryant, because at the end of the day, that situation is one that needs to be worked out between himself and his wife. My issue, or my question is with the nature of advertisers. Do they just come off as low-lifes or are they really as greedy as they appear to be? I mean, it seems that they distanced themselves from Kobe in the first place because they were protecting their interest in their product (who wants an alleged sexual assaulter promoting their product?), not because of some moral quandry they had with his actions. The fact that Coke, or a Coke subsidiary, is now using Kobe to endorse their product five years after they parted ways seems to imply that Coke was merely waiting for Kobe to become “socially acceptable” or profitable before they could use him to endorse their product. Basically, as long as you are able to stay at the top of your game, you can always find someone to use you to endorse their product, regardless of what you’ve done. Am I all for giving second chances? Of course. But more than second chances I’m more concerned with consistency. Kobe was accused of rape for goodness sake. And I’m definitely not saying he was guilty, but it seems that Coke was, based on the actions they took afterwards the allegations came out. If Coke really believed in Kobe as a person and as a marketing tool, why did they play the role of “fair-weather advertiser”?

…a better question. If/when Mike Vick comes back in the league and leads a team to the Super Bowl, will advertisers momentarily lose their “alleged” moral compasses?

Sports Biz w/Darren Rovell: Kobe’s Marketing Mojo Returns

1 Responses »

1. 

   art

   September 14, 2009 • 1:15 pm

   any athlete, including serena williams should be dropped from all product endorsements by the respective companies. a fine is a slap on the wrist to these people and the lesson learned and sent to the kids who lookup and admired them should carry a heavier penalty.

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