In light of the recent scandal involving Oscar Pistorius being charged with his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp’s murder, Nike and Oakley have pulled out of endorsement contracts with the Paralympic champion. Pistorius previously earned millions of dollars from these contracts, but as the news broke sponsors began to back away from the athlete.

Oakley issued a statement, saying: “In light of the recent allegations, Oakley is suspending its contract with Oscar Pistorius, effective immediately.”

Meanwhile, on Nike’s end: “Nike has no plans for Oscar Pistorius in upcoming campaigns,” said a spokesperson for the company.

This is somewhat reminiscent of the Tiger Woods infidelity scandal in 2009, in which he was consequently dropped from many of his sponsors, such as Accenture, AT&T, Gatorade, and Gillette. Nike, however, continued to support him.

Why companies drop athletes and other mega-famous figures when they run into scandals from their advertising campaigns is understandable. Companies do not want to project the image that they support whatever wrongdoing that the person committed. Any company associated with the person may be seen in a negative light, not to mention sales could fall dramatically if they kept them on.

Some are a direct clash of values: for example, Nike dropped Lance Armstrong after his doping scandal broke out, but that was a little different as Armstrong cheated in his sport with illegal performance-enhancing drugs, while Nike entire business model is based on its advocacy of sports, the importance of fair play, physical and mental health, and goal-setting. Clearly, Armstrong was no longer fit to be a role model of the things  that Nike advocates.

It is sad to see famous and successful people throw their successful careers away. Why stars and athletes do this, I will never understand.