Blog 6: The celebrity of athletes: How athletes are marketing themselves off the field

Today’s athletes are living the life! We’re talking living in multimillion dollar mansions, owning private jets, Ferraris, not having to worry about food or having enough money to pay your bills. Who doesn’t want that, right? All while making millions of dollars just by playing a game that they’re passionate about. You could say that they’re living the American dream. Some celebrity athletes are molding their self image by being in commercials, donating to nonprofit organizations, holding contests for their fans, etc. Unfortunately for them, some do decide to get caught up in situations that cast a negative light on their celebrity image. These could range from illegal drugs or sex scandals, to even something as barbaric like murder.

First of all, I’m a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan. It goes without saying that I was shocked when I heard that Ben Roelithsberger supposedly raped a 20-year-old girl in a bathroom after having too much to drink. The investigation was eventually dropped since there wasn’t enough evidence, but other girls started admitting that they have been raped by Big Ben as well. Because of this sex scandal Big Ben was suspended from the NFL for six games. Not only that, but Steelers’ merchandise of Big Ben started to sell less and less and he even lost some contracts.

This not only shed some negative light on Big Ben, but on the entire team as well. I know that when a lot of people think of the Steelers they either think of “Six Super Bowl wins” (Soon to be seven next year.) or “That’s the team with the quarterback who’s a rapist.” Me personally, I don’t happen to like Big Ben as a celebrity athlete very much, but I do like him as a football player and he’s a good one at that.