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Michael Vick, endorsements, and role models

Posted By Scott Warnock On In sports,virtual children by Scott Warnock | 5 Comments

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 [1]. 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 [2]. 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 [3]: 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 [4]): 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 Warnock [8]

Scott Warnock is a writer and teacher who lives in South Jersey. He is a professor of English at Drexel University, where he is also the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education in the College of Arts and Sciences. Father of three and husband of one, Scott is president of a local high school education foundation and spent many years coaching youth sports.
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