Do You Trust Michael Vick?

By Ben Haber

December 17th, 2010

We all know the history. Michael Vick is an immensely talented football player that took the league by storm while a member of the Atlanta Falcons. Then he went to prison for dog fighting and has been trying to recover (personally and professionally) as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles.

This year Vick’s play has thrown him back into the spotlight, which means he’s back in the marketing world too. Woodbury Nissan in New Jersey recently hired Vick to star in a commercial for the dealership (video is below). The clip is actually pretty entertaining, but it has raised plenty of eyebrows since it’s the first major thing Vick has done since spending a 18 months in prison.

This brings us to the question, do you trust Michael Vick? Has he successfully rebounded from rock bottom to a point where he can now be a marketable brand that consumers will look up to and trust? Tiger Woods is already back in the advertising world, but his actions were more stupid then pure evil. It would be quite a transition for Vick, who will finish his second post-prison football season next month.

Note: On top of this all, Vick also made even more news this week when he announced that he would like to have another dog someday (he is currently prohibited from ever owning a dog by a federal judge).

Entry Filed under: Marketing