It amazes me how the Public Relations world has taken advantage of the instant celebrities that the 2008 Summer Olympics created. In the United States, we now have Michael Phelps, Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin as recognizable endorsers of products and opportunities.
These are athletes--they did a wonderful job competing and representing our country, and they deserve fame--but sometimes they aren't very good at it! Michael Phelps hosted Saturday Night Live recently, and some would say it became clear that he should stick to swimming, and not comedy! Here's a link to a special on his rehearsals for the show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCO70-9_utU
Shawn and Nastia are signed up to be spokes girls for the new television special to raise Breast Cancer awareness. This is great because it gives an opportunity to raise awareness and potentially draw more viewers to this special with their celebrity status.
Who knew that when Michael Phelps first jumped into a swimming pool that it would someday lead him to tons of endorsement deals? Just another example of the power of PR!
3 comments:
It is crazy how many commercials Michael Phelps is in now. And also, along with the breast cancer awareness, Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin, and also their teammate Alicia Sacramone are now endorsing Covergirl.
In my opinion, while I don't think these athletes were necessarily expecting this kind of fame, they are good role models. They represented our country well at the Olympics, and for my money I'd rather see them in ads as opposed to some celebrities that people today idolize.
I do agree with you though, the power is PR is a crazy thing!
Obviously athletes like Michael Phelps and Nastia Liukin expect some sort of fame from their success but I wonder how much of their endorsements they actually stand by. It's hard to believe that out of all of the opportunities handed to them, they used and liked all of these products before the companies approached them.
Is it ethical to take every endorsement opportunity handed to you if you're not familiar with the product beforehand?
Well they say everyone loves a winner. It's funny how most people had never heard of these athletes before the olympics but now they are at hero status. I guess it is interesting how PR can play a role in them extending their fame and athletic prowess into an endorsement career and by all means they should ride it out as long as they can. Like Libby said, I wonder if Michael Phelps actually used Rosetta stone or anything else he endorses.
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