Controversy has the power to raise public interest in certain characters. This direction in public interest allows companies to exploit misfortune in an attempt to sell ads. I have noticed a few companies attempting to capitalize on their own endorsed celebrities downfalls in order to peddle their products.
NIKE
Tiger Woods was once one of the most celebrated athletes in the world. An individual to be revered and respected by all golfers (to say the least), he brought the game into the mainstream and is one of the only golfers to actually be considered well-known. He was a cash cow for many companies including GM, Gillette, Tag Heuer, Gatorade, Accenture, AT&T and especially Nike. Part of his appeal to many of these companies was the fact that he was a family man, and a squeaky clean one at that, at least until the allegations began. It all started with a minor car accident in December 2009, but it escalated quickly into what could be considered the downfall of the Tiger Wood’s empire. Soon, one woman turned into 15, a reputation for being an honest family man was destroyed and one of a drug and sex addicted, generally sick individual emerged. His endorsements began dropping with GM, Gillette, Tag Heur, Gatorade, Accenture and AT&T all falling by the wayside as his life began to fall apart. Nike was the only company that stood by his side through all his turmoil. And 5 months after the scandal was exposed, a TV ad was released capitalizing on Tiger’s extreme exposure and tugging at the public’s heart strings by using the voice of his late father. While the appropriateness of the TV spot could be called into question, there is no questioning the effective use of the public spotlight for Nike.
WRANGLER JEANS
On the lighter side of controversy comes the Brett Favre story. Which in the most basic sense is Brett Favre being known for retiring from football and then coming back and then retiring and then coming back again, and also for a bit of a sexting habit. Wrangler jeans has taken advantage of the Favre controversy to release a humorous ad targeted on making funny of the subject matter.
Both are highly effective campaigns. One makes light of a controversial situation and one attempts to humanize the situation. Regardless it seems capitalizing on controversy is an effective way to bring notice to your brand. Once again proving the old adage, any publicity is good publicity.