Kobe Bryant: Superstars Sell

Ever since the 1980s and the trend of companies to hire famous athletes to endorse their products and services, we have seen the correlation that a player's on field performance can have on fans willingness to buy products endorsed by that athlete.  I grew up during the 'Be Like Mike Era' as I prefer to call it and was witness to the pull that athletes began to have on consumers.  I always had to have the products endorsed by my favorite NBA players because, after all, it would make me be like them!  This was evidenced by a visit that my family once took to Payless Shoes back in the late 80s.  My parents were about to buy me shoes and my dad suggested this ugly pair of blue suede high tops that cost $1.  My disgust was written all over my face until my dad fibbed a bit and told me that they were the same shoes that Larry Bird wears.  At that point I had to have them!  And a few months later I got that same pair of shoes again!  Never mind that they were the ugliest shoes I'd ever seen because I thought I was being like my hero Larry Bird!  Well the Be Like Mike or Be Like Larry(except not really) Eras gave way to the Be Like Tiger, Lebron, and Kobe eras of today.  The willingness of consumers to buy products promoted by star athletes is stronger then ever.  I mention Kobe Bryant because Kobe provides the strongest example of how this rings true.

Kobe's image was damaged after the 2004 rape allegations

In the early 2000s, Kobe Bryant was an endorsement juggernaut.  He had lucrative deals with Nike, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, and Upper Deck.  Every youngster seemed to idolize Kobe.  Kobe represented everything  they wanted to be.  He was young(he came into the league at age 17), he was cool, and his style of play was flashy.  This all took a sudden turn though.


In 2004, Kobe Bryant was charged with sexual assault.  This had stemmed from accusations of a young lady that Kobe had forced her to have sex with her in a Colorado hotel room.  All of a sudden, this young star who could do no wrong become someone who did something very wrong.  Kobe was now an adultering rapist in the eyes of the public and to the companies he was endorsing.  McDonald's terminated his contract and Coca-Cola let his contract expire in 2005.

Coke let Kobe's Sprite contract expire in 2005, but has since signed him again

Over the next few years, Kobe began work on repairing his image.  He said and did the right things.  He appeared apologetic and always seemed to have his family visible after games.  He also continued to play tremendous basketball.

Flash forward to 2011.  Kobe Bryant is widely cheered both at home and on the road.  Chants of 'Kobe' and 'MVP' are often rained down upon him.  His jersey is the number 1 selling jersey in the league and he made over $24 million in endorsements alone in 2010.  Even Coke re-signed him in 2008 sighting the fact that a marriage between a superstar player and superstar company made perfect sense.  Most recently, Bryant signed a big deal with Turkish Airlines as his endorsements are becoming more global.


So how did Kobe Bryant pull this off? Did it have to do with the fact that was contrite in the public eye?  Possibly, although his crime was so horrible that it is hard to believe that anyone would ever mistake him for citizen of the year.  It is more likely that Kobe's play on the court turned his image back around.  He scores 81 points in a game.  He won his 4th and 5th championships.  And in a what have you done for me lately society, this is good enough for Kobe Bryant to again be cool.  Many ignore Kobe's past transgression as if it never happened.  They are too busy buying his products and trying to be like Kobe to care.  Taking notes Tiger?