Before Michael Vick, quarterbacks were (mostly) tall, slow white men who passed the football, handed it off or got creamed by pass rushers. Vick changed the game by combining the strength, speed and agility of a running back with the arm and savvy of a quarterback. With it, he turned the traditional also-ran Atlanta Falcons into a contender. How could any company in the sporting goods field not sign such a sure-fire hall-of-famer as a spokesperson?

And sign him they did. Nike (NYSE:NKE) created a "Michael Vick Experience" ad campaign. He appeared on the cover of the 2004 version of Electronic Arts' (NASDAQ:ERTS) Madden football. The sponsor money rolled in, and when the Falcons signed Vick to a 10-year, $130 million contract, he had reached the pinnacle of sports success.

Then came the expose. News reports tying Vick to a dog fighting ring, then naming him as the pivotal figure in a horrendous gang who raised killer dogs in a kennel on Vick's property and buried the losers nearby. By the time Vick was taken into custody, his brand was so fouled that companies couldn't back away from him fast enough. The only sales of equipment with his name on it was to dog owners who used them as chew toys.

In a fiasco, everyone involved suffers. I just wish the everybody here hadn't included innocent dogs.

Read the entire series

Spokesperson fiasco #4: Michael Vick and Nike originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Michael Vick dog chew toy is so brilliant in its simplicity that I am kicking myself for not having thought of it myself.

I mean, what better way is there for dogs and their owners to register their disgust over the dog-fighting allegations against the Atlanta Falcons quarterback. My hat's off to the anonymous entrepreneurs, who the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says are based in Jacksonville, Florida.

Apparently, the people behind the toy were going to donate the proceeds to the Jacksonville Humane Society but somehow that got messed up because of what the website describes as "squabbling over charitable donations." The toy's makers are promising to donate their proceeds anonymously. I've contacted the website and will let you know if I get a response.

The toy sells for $7.99 and is made out of "state-of-the-art dog material," whatever that means. It also promises to withstand "the most playful of dog destruction."

By the way, there's little if anything that Vick could do to stop the toy since it's satire and clearly doesn't imply his endorsement. The NFL star is learning what many celebrities, including Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan already know: Fame is a bitch.

Why the Michael Vick dog chew toy is freakin' brilliant originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 07 Aug 2007 14:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.