Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Sponsors ditch Ryan Lochte after Rio robbery tale

Gold medal or not, sponsors were quick to distance themselves from Ryan Lochte.

Lochte has explained that the now infamous robbery in Rio wasn’t a lie, but rather an “over-exaggeration.” Debate the nuance all you want—the bottom line is that the swimmer stands to lose millions in endorsements.

Speedo USA was the first brand to cut Lochte from its payroll. On Monday, the company said in a statement:

While we have enjoyed a winning relationship with Ryan for over a decade and he has been an important member of the Speedo team, we cannot condone the behavior that is counter to the values this brand has long stood for.

Speedo USA took it a step further on Tuesday, saying it would donate $50,000 that it would have handed over to Lochte to a charity:

Next came Ralph Lauren, which released the following statement to CNBC:

Syneron-Candela, which owns Gentle Hair Removal, also said it would cut ties with Lochte. Its statement reads:

We hold our employees to high standards, and we expect the same of our business partners. We wish Ryan well on his future endeavors and thank him for the time he spent supporting our brand.

Japanese mattress company Airweave first said it would stand by Lochte, but the company later reversed its stance:

Free download: 10 ways to enliven senior executives' communications

The 32-year-old Lochte claimed in an interview with TMZ that he was “still intoxicated” when he told an NBC reporter that he and his teammates had been robbed at gunpoint.

How does the fallout affect Lochte’s bank account? ESPN’s Darren Rovell was the first to put a figure on it:

 



from PR Daily News Feed http://ift.tt/2bN6sqm
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)