According to baba booey’s post on perezhilton.com, “there aren’t any heroes in this world.” Baba is referencing the recent fall from grace experienced by Olympian Michael Phelps. He was snapped at a party smoking what appears to be marijuana out of a bong. Some people are very upset at Phelps’s behavior, while others encourage his actions citing that at twenty-three, he is allowed to have a little fun.
Some people that do care very much are his multi-million dollar sponsors. After the Olympics, brands competed for Phelps’s endorsement and entered into huge sponsorships and expensive deals. Most notable are his deals with Kellogg and Subway. Kellogg dropped Phelps from his endorsement of Frosted Flakes cereal, but Subway has decided to keep Phelps on.
According to the article on AdAge.com, the decision was made on Friday to keep Phelps’ deal, but Subway did decide to remove him from the SubwayFreshBuzz website and to hold off on his campaign that was supposed to launch early this year. A representative for Subway said, “Like most Americans, and like Michael Phelps himself, we were disappointed in his behavior. Also like most Americans, we accept his apology.”
This story caught my attention because I love Subway (I usually eat there at least two or three times a week) and I support their decision to keep Michael Phelps. I think from an advertising point of view, it fits right in with their company’s principles. An endorsement from Phelps says, “Ya, I screwed up, just like we all do. You eat junk food and I smoke pot. We’re all human. Maybe we can both redeem ourselves by eating a little Subway.”
If anything keeping him on makes Subway look like a forgiving, understanding place. Not to mention it’s free advertising with all the talk about Phelps’s contract in the media right now. I know after researching this article, I’m definitely craving a Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki sandwich. This demonstrates the old advertising slogan that “any publicity is good publicity.”
I think most of Gen Y doesn’t care if Michael Phelps smokes pot. Most likely a good portion of the millennials have done it themselves. This story brings up the issue of the future of spokespersons. Will we be more forgiving than past generations? Just how far can someone go before we deem them unsuitable for representation of a product? I think SNL’s Seth Meyers sums it up beautifully in his Weekend Update segment, “Really?!”
What do you think?
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I so think are generation will forgive Phelps. Like you said most of us has done it before. It is not that big of deal as earlier generations. If we can forgive britney spears and other celebs for the crazy things they have done im sure we can forgive phelps for this little mistake. for me it actually makes him more like a real person.
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