TDF Report: The Ads
Category: Sports (Pro/College/HS)...
Posted Thursday, July 12, 2007 at 04:26 PM [GMT-6]

I'm having trouble getting motivated to blog about the Tour de France thus far. It's early enough in the race that teams are still riding conservatively, trying more to avoid losing the race than to win it, and that doesn't make for compelling drama. Most of the stages have been like NBA games; you can ignore all but the last two minutes (or two kilometers) and not miss much of anything.

But, one thing that's in stark contrast to previous years is the almost complete absence of previous TDF winners in the advertising. When Lance Armstrong was making his incredible run of consecutive wins, almost every ad featured him in some way. Even last year, when he wasn't in the race, his familiar presence was a common theme for commercials.

This year is different, and one can't help but feel a bit sorry for three entities, the first being Floyd Landis, the second being Óscar Pereiro, and the third being advertisers as a group.

In Floyd's case, the long drawn-out controversy over whether he did or didn't dope up during last year's TDF victory has deprived him not only of being able to compete in this year's race, but also of all the very lucrative endorsement deals that normally accrue to the wearer of the yellow jersey. Now, granted, Landis is nowhere as well-known or charismatic as Armstrong, but he is an American, and even a lesser-known American TDF winner is a valuable asset in the cycling world. Unless, of course, he's damaged goods, and that's the verdict on Landis, regardless of the outcome of the drug hearings. I suspect he's lost close to seven figures in endorsement deals, and those will not reappear even if his victory is legitimized via the appeals process.

Pereiro's situation is a bit different. As the runner-up last year, he shouldn't have expected to play a big role in this year's ad campaigns. But, if he truly was the winner, then he's been cheated out of those deals and, again, they won't reappear.

The third group worthy of sympathy consists of the advertisers who had to make a tough choice about Landis as a spokesman or product endorser. I suspect the decision wasn't that hard in the end. It's better to leave him out of the marketing plans, rather than risk having your guy exposed as a cheater. Again, even if he's proven innocent, the damage has been done, and there's little upside left. What I am a bit surprised about is that Lance wasn't re-recruited to fill in the gap left by the theoretical vacancy in the yellow jersey. Perhaps there just wasn't time to get the campaigns off the ground. And, perhaps that tactic smacked too much of rubbing Landis's face in it, although that might attribute an unwarranted amount of conscience to ad agencies.

OK, there's actually a fourth group to feel sorry for as a result of this situation, and that's all the viewers who now have to watch an endless repetition of Smiling Bob's stiff endorsement of "male enhancement products" and Cervelo bike commercials that look like they were shot by an obscure Swedish film director.

No, I'm afraid we'll have to be content the race itself. Personally, I'm waiting for the Alps.

Technorati tags: Tour de France | Floyd Landis | Oscar Pereiro