The fallen angels

AS LANCE ARMSTRONG AND OSCAR Pistorius seemingly crash and burn, Nike and Oakley—sponsors common to both—have plenty to panic about as well. The stock of Luxottica Group (the owners of Oakley) crashed on the Borsa Italiana Exchange on the days after each sportsman was shamed—on Oct. 22, 2012, Armstrong was stripped of all his Tour de France titles on doping charges and later, on Feb. 14, Pistorius was charged with murdering his girlfriend. However, the Nike stock tanked on the NYSE only in Armstrong’s case. Both firms have dumped the athletes. So, do brands need to readdress the way they sign on sportspeople? Most of them, who use brand ambassadors, have clauses in their contracts to exit if the athlete defames the brand. “But since the issue is about dealing with the way they behave in their personal lives, the existing clauses have to be extended to cover issues outside the areas of sporting performance,” says Harish Krishnamachar, senior vice president and country head, World Sport Group, a sports marketing agency. Neither does ‘any publicity is good publicity’ work for sports brands. “It is in their interests to have positive and long-term associations. And just as there are few exceptions to the rule, the norm with brands and sportspeople is that they have done exceptionally well together,” adds Krishnamachar.