On Kobe Bryant, Advertising, and Public Opinion (CA)

(Editor's Note: I understand that this is a bit of an old story, but I was assigned to write it for a communications class, addressing public opinion and media effects on news. It is also a touch more serious and to the point, but it has to do with sports, so I'm sure you will enjoy it anyways. From now on, if the post is a class assignment, I will indicate it in the title with an (CA). It's not that they are bad, (There is a grade riding on them), but it will help to answer the inevitable question, "Why the hell did he write about this?" Enjoy.)

Yesterday, my ESPN the magazine came in the mail. The cover itself was a fold-out, in order to showcase the advertisement for Glaceau Vitamin Water on the inside.

Some of the brightest stars in the NBA were featured, including Tracy McGrady and LeBron James, in individual still shots, playing basketball at night in an open downtown court. To the far left of the advertisement, the first person you see when you open the three page spread completely, in the stance made famous by Jerry West as the symbol of the NBA, was Kobe Bryant.

Kobe is still among the advertising elite in the world of sports, even though it was less than five years ago that he was accused of sexual assault in a Colorado hotel. Of the major sponsorships that Kobe had at the time of the accusation, only two, McDonalds and Nutella, officially dropped him from their advertising campaign, although no company he endorsed ran an ad of his again until 2005.

In 2007, according to Forbes, Kobe made 20.9 million dollars in advertising alone. That is 1,409,375 dollars more than he made playing basketball for the 2007-2008 season. Kobe has remained a highly sought after spokesman, and a cultural phenomenon, and rightly so.

Before the incident between Bryant and Katelyn Faber at the Lodge and Spa Cordillera on June 30^th of 2003, Bryant had a squeaky clean off court image. He had played for seven years in the NBA, and was one of the league's brightest stars, having been an NBA All-Star five times, named to the league's All-NBA First Team and All-Defensive First Team twice each and had won three NBA titles.

The culture shock that came from the accusation, as well as Bryant's large national profile made the story front page news, and soon, people who didn't even follow basketball became very familiar with Bryant.

Kobe admitted to having an extramarital sexual encounter with with Faber, but claimed it was completely consensual and that he had done nothing illegal. Faber claimed that she had been raped in Bryant's hotel room by the accused.

Although Coca-Cola quickly signed LeBron James in the summer of 2003 to continue its basketball directed Sprite advertisements and take some of the immediate attention off of Bryant, Kobe was not immediately dropped from the contract. Advertisers wanted to see how the accusation and trial would play out before making any final decisions about Bryant's advertising future.

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