Why Brett Favre's Penis Pics Will Kill His Ad Deals, But Ray Lewis' Homicide Bust Did Not
Forbes estimates that Favre potentially has up to $100 million on the line. That's a big "if." To lose that much Favre must lose all his sponsors plus another $10 million a year in speakers' fees and other one-off gigs for the next decade. He does have plenty of sponsors, none of whom have publicly dropped him. Many will, however, if Favre eventually admits -- or someone else proves -- that those photos were his:
Favre earned approximately $7 million last year through deals with Wrangler jeans, Snapper's line of lawnmowers and Remington hunting rifles. He's appeared in Nike, Starter, Smart Car, Prilosec and MasterCard commercials, playing off his family-man, 'good ole boy' persona.
Favre, like Tiger Woods, has backed himself into a corner as a married, Catholic family man who's also a grandfather.The same thing happened to Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney, whose affair with a prostitute while his wife was pregnant recently cost him an endorsement deal with Coca-Cola (KO). The company is now removing his face from cans of Coke Zero in Europe. Rooney's other current clients include Nike (NKE) -- which backed Woods, disastrously -- and Electronic Arts (EA), which used him as the face of its new Fifa 11 release.
Married Chelsea F.C. and England captain John Terry is also thought to have lost deals this year after he made a teammate's girlfriend pregnant. (Both Woods and Terry sought "super-injunctions" in London in an effort to keep their sex lives out of the media precisely because so much advertising money is at stake.)
It's a different story for celebrities involved in non-sex scandals, however. In the three years since Kate Moss was photographed snorting cocaine at a party, her earnings have doubled, according to her booking agent. Similarly, Lindsay Lohan worked with Norton Symantec during her drug scandal, and just did a new campaign with Marc Ecko, confounding those -- including me -- who figured her inability to stay out of the criminal justice system would render her toxic to advertisers.
Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis was once arrested for murder -- the charges were dropped in favor of a guilty plea to obstructing justice -- but he's now the main face of Procter & Gamble (PG)'s Old Spice. (That's his jailhouse mugshot right.)
Madison Avenue forgives some things, but not everything, it seems.
Related:
- Why Nike's New Tiger Woods Ad Is the Worst Commercial Ever
- Daddies' Sauce: Sponsors of Chelsea's Terry May Wield Ax Over Affair With Teammates' Wife
- Chelsea F.C. Star Pimped Via Spam: "Want John Terry to Endorse Your Brand?"