Michael Vick, endorsements, and role models
This is not an anti-Michael Vick diatribe. You’ve read that before. Dog fighting does disgust and disturb me. It’s evident Vick took the inherent cruelty of it to another level. He was caught. He served a prison sentence prescribed by our legal system. He was released. Since his release, he’s been active denouncing dog fighting, even working with some members of animal humane societies. He has spent time building himself back into condition to play at the highest level in a professional sport I enjoy a lot for a team I root for.
This isn’t a Vick vituperation. Yes, I was conflicted when the Eagles signed him. But I watched and cheered for the Vick-led Eagles last year. He has a lot of talent and is now, perhaps unlike earlier in his career, matching it with a high-level work ethic.
This isn’t a judgement of Vick. When speaking at one Philadelphia charter school, Vick asked the students if they knew people involved in dog fighting. Almost every student raised a hand. Kids live what they learn and then become adults, yes? Think about that next time you suck down a pulled pork sandwich (which is made from pigs, right? I know two people who have pigs as pets. Pigs are very smart).
My cheap shot against the pulled-pork-eating crowd aside (of which I am one), you get my point: Michael Vick is moving along his path in 2011 America, and I’m not interested in criticizing that path.
What I found curious, though, is that earlier this summer, Vick starting getting endorsement offers again: Nike, MusclePharm, others, including some local deals. I’m not an inveigher of Vick, but he did some bad things. And, through no fault of his own, earlier in the summer, while some of these deals were rolling in, he was a member of a sport engaged in what they called a lockout (if you are still trying to justify liking the NFL, do not visit this site): Millionaires (and a few billionaires) squared off over who gets even more money. There was a chance a month ago that they weren’t even going to play football this year.
So, let me get to it here. With all of the people in the vast world, how is it that someone with a felony past who participates in a sport that at the time was engaged in a disgraceful lockout even be on the radar for endorsements? Is there really such a dearth of people we might look up to in our culture? Is this the best we can offer our kids as role models, as those worthy of emulation?
Look, you’re chuckling at me now for my naivete. And you’re right; I just don’t get it.
This isn’t an anti-Michael Vick fulmination. I know kids idolize athletes. They look up to celebrities. They buy up these peoples’ gear and images and display them as part of their own identity.
Yes, great stories can be found among these folks who’ve achieved this weird thing we call celebrity. Some deserve admiration. But getting attached to some two-dimensional persona who can expertly manipulate a ball or sing nicely has always seemed like trouble to me. Vick? I don’t personally know the man aside from what I’ve read and seen. I have nothing against him. He’s out of my financial bracket, so it’s silly to say, but I wouldn’t mind him as a neighbor. I’d even bring in his mail for him while he was on road trips. But I wouldn’t pick him as a role model for my kids.
I’m not fuming about Vick. He’s not alone in this for me. I have a difficult time seeing any athlete’s jersey or any celebrity’s image on my kids. I mean, who are these people? I don’t know what they’re like. I don’t know when the day will come that they run someone over in a car or beat their spouse or decide they selfishly want…. well, more.
Despite the problems associated with Vick and, in a way more importantly, the very sport he plays, companies are paying him because, when it comes down to it, they have determined that his association with their products will encourage you to buy more of those products.
So I guess my real question is this: Why is it that these companies are absolutely, positively right?
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Scott,
At the risk of being very simplistic about this, I think it comes down to winning. If Vick would have struggled last year, and the Eagles lost more than they won, I dont think he would have gotten these deals. Look at Tiger Woods. He just lost another endorsement deal. Like you, I am not casting judgments either way, however, if (when?) Tiger begins to win again, I am sure he will get them (endorsements) back. People like winners, especially in sports. When you win, people forget about whether you cheated on your wife or did anything else that was morally wrong. Right or wrong, it is probably how it is these days. You win, you are forgiven, you lose…you are forgotten.
We shall speak in person…
You know my position, the bottom line, is the bottom line.
Money…..
Like Keith says. Winning Cures EVERYTHING in Sport. In every age level, professional level and even in SALES! Remember Dancing in your kitchen? They WON! We felt good! I bet ya, 100, #10 Jackson jersey’s were sold the next day!
Numbers don’t lie, Mike Vick, Ray Lewis, (the two that come to the forefront of my mind) yes, not the best role models. But on Sundays they WIN, so guess what people like to WIN! Loosing SUCKS! You defiantly understand that.
It has NOTHING to do with the Humans Moral Fiber, it has to do with NUMBERS(Wins), Company’s SALES (Money) …American Greed is it great!
In some ways, the worst thing that has happend to role models is that we know too much about them in a media-drenched culture. Maybe it was better when athletes were mysterious role models whose personal lives were not a part of the equation, at least for kids. My dad (born in 1936) reminisces, from time to time, about how cool it was not to know what the NFL players really looked like. He would see knights on the field of battle, not guys who killed dogs or sexually harassed women or sweated orange Gatorade. If they were role models, it was their play that made them so. There was, perhaps, less worry about who they were as people. I don’t remember the player’s name, but my dad tells another story of when he used to root for the Philly Athletics. He was at a game and his favorite outfielder went for a ball near the stands and caught it. His hat fell off. My dad, still a kid, saw that the guy was bald and stopped liking him as a player. Interesting reaction, especially when juxtoposed with events these days.
Not being an athlete myself, but having given birth to a few (I won’t even mention my husband the trophy winner – that goes without saying), the whole athlete as a role-model thing has always confused me. I’d rather see Vick as some to, if not admire, at least pat on the back because he has turned away from his past and has worked publicly to make amends.
I think of it more as a parenting problem. We as parents need to step up and ensure our children are educated against marketing and the whole current culture of “role model” is all about marketing, obtaining brand loyalty and the bottom line. Question EVERYthing, especially if it came from American media.
I don’t cheer when media personnas stumble or fall but I do talk to my son about it, I find it a very teachable moment. And I am finding those moments in talking about Vick too. In the zero-defect, zero-tolerance mentality that pervades these days, I find it refreshing to know that you can re-learn ethics, re-learn dedication and learn from your mistakes. Hopefully some kids can learn from his mistakes too.