Kobe Bryant: Ankle Insurance Salesman, Redeemed Figure.

How is the largest shoe company in the world managing to continually drum up business in the face of a recession?  Clever promotions.  How is the person who is arguably the best player in the NBA rebuilding his image since allegations of sexual assualt in 2003?  By selling ankle insurance, of course.

Yes…they really did put Kobe on a horse…Classic.  Nike even took the time to create a viral site, Notmybrokenankles.com, that allows users to check out the shoes, and post their best ankle-breaking videos.

This is a great campaign by Nike, but it again brought up a series of thoughts in my mind.  The first being, as I mentioned the last time I wrote on this subject, is the fact that Kobe has been able to successfully repair his image.  When the sexual allegations came out in 2003, true or false, Kobe’s career as a marketing personality had all but ended.  But, in the five years since, I would bet that a majority of consumers have forgotten that incident completely, or its merely mentioned in passing while they’re on their way to pick up their new Zoom Kobe IV’s.  Companies and consumers gave Kobe a second chance.  The American sports world is the land of second chances; charges of sexual misconduct, assualt, drunk driving…all seem to be forgiven, especially if the player or coach in question can continue to excel at his position.

Woo! Kobe was playing like he was trying to beat that case on the court…All that dunkin and 40 point games and stuff?  It was like the judge threw him the ball and was like “I’ll play you for your freedom”.

-Dave Chappelle

5 years of dominance in the NBA helped everyone forget about a night in Veil, Colorado.  But in time, even if Kobe had been a “marginally good” superstar, pardon the oxymoron, he would have been forgiven. The only group of athletes that seem to never be fully exonerated are those who cheat on their sport.  Don’t believe me?  Ask Mark McGuire, or Barry Bonds, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Tonya Harding, or Bill Belichick (assuming he’s away from “Patriots Land”).  Is the “smugness” of an athlete’s personality correlated to their forgiveness?  Of course.  But Kobe was smug before Colorado, and depending on who you ask, he’s still smug now.  More importantly though, he’s been forgiven.

That, and he’s apparently an ankle insurance salesmen extraordinaire.

Post Script:  This whole article makes me partially wonder about the American consciousness in general…Are we more willing to forgive a man that cheats on a wife than a man who cheats on the game in which he plays?  Well, since this is a sports business blog, I’ll just let you talk amongst yourselves on that one.

Sports Business Digest — Sports Advertisers:  Granting Second Chances, or All About The Money?