Athletes can make great spokespeople for products and brands. That’s nothing new.
However they can be divisive considering sports fans often dislike various athletes for various reasons. Also sometimes the actual of act of doing a particular commercial can be offputting to some (remember the Charles Barkley, I’m not a role model commercial). Other examples are Carson Palmer’s hot dog ad and Michael Phelps joining the lame party with Jared at Subway.
Anyways today I saw a new AT&T commercial that pretty much blew my mind. It featured, Tyler Hansbrough, probably one the most despised college basketball players of the past decade along with Joakim Noah. Hansbrough was extremely productive and a great team player, but just seemed to irk fans with his sometimes ugly/foul dependent offensive game as well as his very high strung/energetic demeanor. Basically, fans don’t think he’s the real deal and grew sick of the college basketball world showcasing him for four consecutive years.
Hansbrough went to the NBA and was drafted in the mid first round by the Indiana Pacers. Most people thought it was a stretch as Hasnbrough’s game is not believed to translate well to the NBA. Despite the fact that basketball fans tend to dislike him, he has yet to play in the NBA, he plays for one of the smallest NBA markets, and his limited ability to be recognized , AT&T has put Hansbrough front and center in their new ad campaign.
I shit you not it involves puppies, a cute girl who is sad her puppy is missing, and Hansbrough saving the day via his phone. Its atrociously bad.
My guess is that only 1 out of 8 people who see this commercial will recognize Hansbrough. Out of those 7 people who don’t recognize its him, 5 will think this commercial blows even with the puppy. Besides that, probably anyone who does realize that Hansbrough is in this commercial will most likely a) hate it b) laugh at how lame it is c) wonder why the ____ , Hansbrough is in this commercial. Yeah he went to school for four years, stayed out of trouble, and is known for monster effort and intensity, but really is this going to push AT&T or just irk sports fans with its lameness?
