Do athletes feel no shame when promoting unhealthy products?
Asked by
windex (
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May 29th, 2010
Don’t any of these pro athletes have any shame/guilt/honor [insert justice]
If I eat McDonalds and Drink Coke, I won’t be like them, I’ll be the exact opposite.
Are they all just wh*res? Are most of them willing to sell their moms for more money?
Are there any honest humans left? How do they sleep at night?
question inspired by the fantastic BP incident
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18 Answers
If they don’t do it, someone else will.
Since there is a ton of money to be made from endorsing these products, I think the dollar signs trump the ethics unfortunately. For some of these celebrities/sports stars anyway.
I’d whore myself out selling Big Macs for a few million dollars and I’d sleep like a baby at night. They don’t force feed anyone, there is always room for some personal responsibility.
Eating at McDonalds and drinking Coke is not why you’ll never look like a professional athlete.
That’s a pretty broad brush you’re using. Pablo Escobar (remember him?) became one of the world’s richest men from his control of the Medellin (Colombia) cocaine cartel. Big Macs and Coke for a few million dollars? It wouldn’t have been worth his time.
Obviously, some middle infielder who can make a few million bucks from promoting Big Macs isn’t going to be in Pablo Escobar’s league… but I haven’t heard of any who try that route. Yet the demand for cocaine and other drugs is still pretty huge.
And, really, the ads you hate are only marginally effective, anyway. The guys writing ads for Big Macs are generally going after those people who are already in the market for fast foods. That is, they’re targeting their ads for somebody who might otherwise go to Wendy’s, Burger King, KFC, etc. The ads are ineffective on me: I’ve never had a Big Mac, and I can’t imagine that I ever will… though I do love hamburgers. (When I last went to the golden arches for a meal that wasn’t breakfast, I had the Quarter-Pounder without cheese. I’d be happy to promote that, but McD’s doesn’t seem to, for some reason.)
If I had to make my whole life’s fortune in about six years, I’d do anything I could to put a few extra bucks in the bank. After you play in the Majors, you don’t exactly take a job selling used cars, knowhatImean?
And on top of that, you don’t get to spend your whole life training for the Olympics and not eat. That’s why Smoky McWhatsisface is still doing Subway commercials.
On the other hand, maybe all the athletes you don’t see advertising junk are those who have refused—and there will be no publicity for that or honors. Just personal goodness. And the public never knows for sure. Someone should make a list of those who have not done publicity for things they felt were bad.
@skfinkel the names Pat Tillman and Roberto Clemente come to mind without much prompting.
They’re not lying to anyone, McDonald’s food does taste good, hell almost all fast food tastes fantastic. Sure it’s utter shit for you, but the athletes are doing a damn thing to mislead anyone. They’re just getting paid to be a propaganda tool, the term is “testimonials”.
Hey lets be honest. McDonald’s food is only really unhealthy if you eat it in excess! Don’t eat more than you should and you won’t get fat because of it. Who said these athletes don’t eat there and drink coke?
They aren’t ethical because they are athletic.
If you were offered get paid almost as much (if not more) as a normal person would make in their lifetime for doing maybe a day’s work of standing around and saying something about a product, would you really turn it down?
No, you wouldn’t.
@Syger. Really? None of us would turn it down? You know that for a fact?
they have very little control over the contract details.
I think you need something to do. Don’t eat at McDonald’s if you don’t want to. Advertising is advertising; makes no different if it includes a celebrity. I see no reason for a celebrity to feel shame in your scenario. It doesn’t influence my food choice, nor should it yours. And if you think athletes don’t eat junk food, you haven’t been around any.
There is nothing wrong with the occasional trip to McDonald’s. I notice that I have a “Mac attack” about every two months and usually order a Big Mac and coffee or a smoothy. I am pretty sure that I would not weigh any less without those trips.
If you want to really help, I suggest that you work to help the people that can only afford McDonald’s because they have no transportation and the only grocery stores are miles away.
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