The Toke Heard 'Round the Marketing World?
Will Michael Phelps' sponsorship deals go up in smoke?
PHOTO: Phelps smokes a bong
You can't believe it, can you? Well believe it. There is an actual picture of Michael Phelps
hXXp://msn.foxsports.com/olympics/pgStory?contentId=8460586.
Of course, Phelps is just the latest in a long line of athletes caught in compromising marijuana situations. Check out
hXXp://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/pgStory?contentId=9165424 to relive all the glory of years past.
If you can pick your jaw up off the floor, you may also remember that once upon a time, Phelps dominated a historic Olympic Games. Check out the Top 10 performances from Beijing
hXXp://msn.foxsports.com/olympics/pgStory?contentId=8485022. Want more? Here are the
hXXp://msn.foxsports.com/olympics/pgStory?contentId=8488078.
The world is waiting, er, breathlessly.
When a photo of Phelps (expertly) holding a bong emerged on the web, the Michael Phelps Corp. became the latest American business in need of a bailout.
And Phelps and his agency, Octagon, have started bailing.
No doubt properly coached by his handlers, Phelps is being dutifully contrite as if his actions actually harmed anyone (besides the poor guy whose stash was at the mercy of the most powerful lungs in sports).
"I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment," Phelps said in the statement released (and let's face it, probably written) by one of his agents. "I'm 23 years old and despite the successes I've had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again."
The full-pool apology. No denial. No the-chlorine-gave-me-glaucoma alibi.
Phelps and his agents hope to convince people that this particular bong rip -- like his DUI in 2004 -- was an isolated incident and not part of a pattern of behavior that might suggest that he is, in fact, a huge partier.
Phelps will now be tried in three separate courts: society as a whole, the sports world and the world of big-money sponsorship.
Society, of course, will forgive him. It probably already has. A FOXSports.com poll found that 79 percent of readers chose "He's 23, can we all relax?" while a meager 21 percent opted for "I'm dismayed, I can't believe he would do that."
The public, in its infinite wisdom, understands that the essential rationale for the prohibition of any substance is that it's bad for you. For argument's sake, let's say this was not Phelps' first time with his thumb on a bong's carburetor. If the guy can get high during his vacation and then set world records when he's at work, how bad can it really be for him?
In the sports world the Phelps drama will now play out against the backdrop of a collective schizophrenia regarding marijuana.
Leagues and governing bodies seem to be getting a handle on performance-enhancing drugs, but what of performance-diminishing drugs? Is it the place of sports to police participants if they are not gaining a competitive advantage? . =David Howman, executive director of the World Anti-Doping Agency, happily took a pass on this one, saying, "We don't have any jurisdiction. It's not banned out of competition. It's only if you test positive in competition."
Given that marijuana impairs psychomotor abilities and cognitive processing, why ban it in competition?
As they pertain to the integrity of athletics, stanozolol is a much bigger threat than sensimilla. Charles Oakley once estimated that over half the NBA smokes pot and those guys are merely the best athletes in the world (apologies to the greats of linear water sports).
Most people probably assume that close to 100 percent of snowboarders get high, a notion buttressed by Canadian Ross Rebagliati winning the sport's first Olympic gold medal in 1998 in Nagano and then having it stripped for testing positive for pot. (His medal was later restored.)
But what the sports world or society may think regarding marijuana is relatively negligible for Phelps.
The important verdict will come down from the sponsors, the many, many sponsors.
Those same companies that looked past an earlier drunk-driving arrest will now have to reassess if Phelps projects the image they want for their product.
For Olympic sponsor McDonald's the hope was that Phelps would convey a healthier image of their brand. (Some would argue their product is far worse for you than the organically grown herb that can so make one crave a 510-calorie, 28-grams-of-fat Quarter Pounder with Cheese.)
It will be quite ironic if a major sponsor decides to drop Phelps for promoting an unhealthy lifestyle other than the one they were paying him to promote.
In choosing sponsors some had hoped Phelps would be more selective in what products he'd be pushing.
"Public figures like Michael Phelps exert a major influence over our youngsters," said Douglas Castle, senior advisor to the Children's International Obesity Foundation (CIOF). "CIOF believes that celebrities should think twice before choosing to endorse or encourage the consumption of any product which is inherently unhealthful to children, especially if that product is correlated to obesity, diabetes and a myriad of dangerous conditions."
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