Guitar Hero may want to rethink its current ad campaign.
Two of four featured athletes touting Guitar Hero products in the video game’s latest commercial are involved in public drug scandals.
Kobe Bryant, Tony Hawk, Michael Phelps, and Alex Rodriguez dance and lip sync a la Tom Cruise in Risky Business in the ad for Guitar Hero: World Tour (the competitor to Viacom’s Rock Band).
Yankees star Rodriguez admitted Monday to using performance-enhancing drugs from 2001 to 2003 and has apologized for his behavior.
A photo of Olympic gold medalist Phelps reportedly smoking marijuana hit the Internet last week, and Phelps was banned from competitive swimming for three months. Phelps, who had appeared on Frosted Flakes and Corn Flakes boxes, also lost his sponsorship with Kellogg’s.
Phelps told the Baltimore Sun that he had spoken with other sponsors and Kellogg’s was the only company that dropped him.
One of Rodriguez’s major sponsors, Nike, is keeping him as a spokesman, but issued the following statement: “Nike does not condone the use of illegal substances in sport and agrees with Alex Rodriguez that they should not be used.”
NBA great Kobe Bryant is also no stranger to controversy. In 2003, Bryant was accused of rape, though the criminal charge against him was ultimately dropped.
Tony Hawk is the only athlete in the campaign who has managed to avoid a public scandal.
Guitar Hero has not made any statement regarding its future advertising with Phelps and Rodriguez.
Click here to sign up for the Muckety Newsletter
0 Comments
There are no comments yet, be the first by filling in the form below.
Leave a Comment