Sponsoring Swearing Serena...

I saw an article recently in AdAge referring to Serena Williams' disgraceful outburst during the US Open Women's singles semi final and was disappointed although not at all surprised with their summary.

I’m sure you all know about the incident I’m referring to but for those of you who don’t here’s the short version: during the tennis match Serena was called for a foot fault and her reaction, aimed at the line judge, was this; 

"I swear to God I'm f*ing going to take this f*ing ball and shove it down your f*ing throat, you hear that?".

She subsequently suffered a point deduction and lost the match to eventual tournament winner; Kim Clijsters. Thankfully, Serena did not carry out her threat of asphyxiating a professional line judge and was fined $10,000 (boohoo for the multi-millionaire).

As a role model to millions and company spokeswoman worth millions this outburst will clearly have a negative impact on her brand image but according to the advertising pros it won’t be negative enough to drop her from her money making labels. This behaviour has been correctly described as disgraceful by everyone, and, after Serena made a quick statement trying to excuse the behaviour, followed by a public apology the next day to the line judge, the crowd, her fans etc it seems this apology was widely accepted by her corporate backers. Her brand equity remains intact as far as they’re concerned and her sponsorship and clothes line will continue to make her vast sums of money despite her foul mouthed threat.

Advertising world - have you no shame?

Fair enough that this may have been a one off but this is where it really got my goat - Nike and Kraft actually sent out statements of support! Some marketing professionals think an opportunity to market new lines of products, those aimed at calming or relaxing the consumer, may come out of it (think Brett Favre’s indecision at Sears). However, I'm confused, if I wear Nike and eat Oreos should I shout violent threats to people who I happen to disagree with then relax with a nice hot bath? Obviously I'm exaggerating here but kids are extremely impressionable and constantly see famous people getting away with murder (figuratively of course, except, perhaps, that one guy…).

Phelps got into some trouble with his corporate sponsors when a picture of him smoking a bong was released soon after the Beijing Olympics but, like with Serena, too much money goes into and comes out of sponsoring such high profile and successful athletes. At the end of the day Nike, Kraft and her other sponsors know that Serena is too good to drop, she’ll be winning tournaments left, right and centre for at least the next 5 years at this rate and if they don’t sponsor her, someone else will.

Integrity is cheap but it often proves to be less of a lucrative money maker (see the Wall Street Journal for more information on how lacking in integrity affects your bottom-line in the short run…) there are many exceptions to this rule (thank you Roger Federer) but there are many examples of rich and successful people who just can’t seem to hold that arrogance in yet continue to reap the financial benefits of living in the public eye. Perhaps, for Serena, being branded as the Kanye West of the sports world is punishment enough…

To read the AdAge article in full click here.