It starts with Kobe Bryant being accused of rape in 2003. Bryant's face was all over the news, and the nation wanted to see him gone from nearly every product that he might possibly endorse. The case never went to trial and the civil suit was settled quietly. McDonald's dropped Bryant, but Nike did not.
Fast forward to Tiger Woods and his recent sex scandal. Accenture felt that Woods was not a good person to endorse their products. AT&T soon left his side also. But Nike? No way -- they stayed right there to the end, with Nike chairman Phil Knight saying that in the long-run, this whole situation would be nothing but a blip on the radar screen in the otherwise brilliant career of Tiger Woods.
Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers has been accused of rape not once, but twice. We don't know exactly what Ben actually did, but we know that he was never sent to jail for it. We also know that Ben was on television apologizing to the country for something, which probably says that he did something he wasn't supposed to be doing in the first place. Did Nike get rid of Ben? Nope.
http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,entry&id=880174&pid=880173&uts=1273599089
http://cdn.channel.aol.com/cs_feed_v1_6/csfeedwrapper.swf
Top Celebrity Break Ups
Morgan Freeman & Myrna Colley-Lee: 24 Years
When Morgan Freeman got in a serious car accident on a lonely Mississippi highway back in August of '08 with a woman who was not his wife, he probably figured the cat was out of the bag. Before he left the hospital, Freeman announced he was undergoing divorce proceedings with his wife of 24 years.
Gustavo Caballero, Getty Images
BlackVoices.com
Top Celebrity Break Ups
Damon Dash & Rachel Roy: Four Years
The marriage of the former hip hop titan and the successful fashion designer has officially run its course. Roy, who has two daughters with Dash, recently filed for divorce in NYC. Luckily for the cash-strapped Dash, she's seeking "non-monetary relief."
Top Celebrity Break Ups
Wayne Brady & Mandie Taketa: Nine Years
Cheesy singer/game-show host/comedian Wayne Brady and his wife of nine years Mandie Taketa split in April 2008 after a long separation. The official reason for the divorce was "irreconcilable differences," but Mandie was probably just tired of him spontaneously breaking into song.
Top Celebrity Break Ups
Tracy Morgan & Sabina Morgan: 22 Years
In 2007, Sabina Morgan threatened to divorce her well-known husband, Tracy, who spent a good part of that year with a court-ordered alcohol-monitoring bracelet around his ankle. She didn't go through with it until January of 2008. She cited the '30 Rock' star's drinking problem as her reason. Do you blame her?
Top Celebrity Break Ups
Pink & Carey Hart: Two Years
They started out as an unorthodox couple -- singer Pink was the one who did the proposing to her motocross-star boyfriend, Carey Hart -- and they ended up an unorthodox divorced couple. The two say their relationship became stronger after they split in February.
Top Celebrity Break Ups
Morgan Freeman & Myrna Colley-Lee: 24 Years
When Morgan Freeman got in a serious car accident on a lonely Mississippi highway back in August of '08 with a woman who was not his wife, he probably figured the cat was out of the bag. Before he left the hospital, Freeman announced he was undergoing divorce proceedings with his wife of 24 years.
Top Celebrity Break Ups
Madonna & Guy Ritchie: Eight Years
The union of Madonna and director husband Guy Ritchie came to an end last fall, weeks after tabloids began speculating about an affair between Madge and baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez. The tabs aren't always wrong: Madonna and A-Rod spent quite a bit of quality time together after she and Guy officially split.
Top Celebrity Break Ups
Swizz Beatz & Mashonda: Four Years
Producer Swizz Beatz and singer Mashonda's separation last year seemed like ordinary marital discord, but the situation turned scandalous when rumors surfaced that Alicia Keys might be to blame. All parties have denied the allegations, but the rumors definitely made the divorce fodder for gossip blogs.
Top Celebrity Break Ups
Kanye West & Alexis Phifer: Six Years (on and off)
Kanye West has been on love lockdown since breaking his engagement with his longtime girlfriend, Alexis Phifer, back in April of 2008. After losing his mother and his girl in a matter of months, its no wonder 'Ye sounds so melancholy on '808's and Heartbreak.'
Top Celebrity Break Ups
Star Jones & Al Reynolds: Four Years
They said it wouldn't last... and they were right. Star and Al's improbable union, which began in November of 2004 with a highly-publicized New York City extravaganza, ended when the former 'View' co-host filed divorce papers in March of '08. What's Al Reynolds to do now that he's no longer Mr. Star Jones?
Top Celebrity Break Ups
LisaRaye McCoy-Misick & Michael Misick: Three Years
LisaRaye and husband Michael, the premier of Turks & Caicos, seemed like the perfect island society couple. Wrong! Their three-year marriage ended last summer amid rape allegations, government corruption investigations and a rumored affair between Premier Misick and a certain BET VJ.
Top Celebrity Break Ups
Nike has a model of corporation decision-making that is unlike most other companies across America. When an athlete misbehaves, even in a very public way, Nike is one of the few companies to stand strong against the backlash and not drop the athlete from their list of sponsors. This strategy has worked for the company for 40 years, and it seems to be working to this day.
"Nike, perhaps better than just about any other company, understands what motivates its customers to buy -- or even what may prevent them from buying," David Carter, executive director of the University of Southern California Sports Business Institute, told USA Today. "The outrage is not only relative, but consistently wanes over time. Where were all the protesters that were anticipated upon Michael Vick's return? How quickly did Kobe Bryant rehabilitate his reputation after some championships and an 81-point game?" Carter also noted that, "The behavior of the athletes Nike has under contract has far less impact on their sales because they are an endemic brand, and fans separate performance-related attributes from the police blotter."
What Professor Carter is trying to say is that Nike doesn't need its athletes to be good people, they only need them to be champions and winners. Some companies need athletes to behave in a manner that is acceptable to society, since companies choose them to endorse their products due to the respect the world has for them. Success on the playing field can translate into positive character portrayals in mass media. But with Nike, athletes only need to win on the court or the field, and even if they are bad people, Nike's customers will continue to buy the company's products. This makes good business sense.
Most can't argue that the Nike formula for success hasn't worked. The company started with almost nothing in 1964 and is now worth $30 billion dollars. For all the questions people might have of their business strategy, you have to believe they're doing something right.
Lawrence Watkins is the CEO of the Great Black Speakers Bureau. For more information, please visit LawrenceWatkins.com.
Judy A. Smith: Ask Judy: 'I Didn't Go To School For This'
What You May Not Know About The Fight Against AIDS
Comments: (14)
Add a comment
By: sally on 5/12/2010 10:22PM
I came across an online community for individual seeking interracial love. It is ═══════════════════════
ｗ/ｗ/ｗ． black white Cupid．ｃ/ｏ/ｍ
══════════════════════════ All singles there are seeking interracial relationships. Interracial is not a problem there, but a great merit to cherish!
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Melvin Bazer on 5/13/2010 6:18AM
Let"s start with this.. Nike makes great apparel and I'll buy what suits me . The sports have nothing to do with it. Would love to make millions and get sex the way I want to, but in the real world I would go to JAIL!!!!....But still have my KIKES!!.There are a few things we should get over real soon , who screwed who and who is screwing who.. My BIGGEST concern is that fool that tried to blow up New York!!!.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Gordan on 5/13/2010 11:31AM
Nike is the biggest pimp in the game; it's all about the money... And we like it? They been pimpin sent MJ but we BLACK folks keep giving them the money even if they pick and choose what Negros they won’t to keep or depart from! I know I'm one of the Negros that wouldn’t shuck and jive for them and they unfairly terminated me… Nike wouldn’t be number ONE without “NEGRO” athletes and what we all express as people.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: pandora jewelry on 8/07/2010 8:13AM
we like pandora jewelry,we look for pandora jewelry sale,especially pandora bracelet
Reply to this Comment | Report This