Propaganda Com Michael Phelps Prova Uma Nova Tolerância Cultural Com A Maconha

[Bas]

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BE YOURSELF! Seja você mesmo!

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Michael Phelps ads prove a new cultural tolerance of marijuana

By Dan Neil

July 7, 2009

Super-swimmer Michael Phelps returned to big-time advertising Sunday with a

TV spot for Subway titled "Be Yourself." Oh, the irony.

Surely Phelps -- 14-time Olympic gold medalist and endorsement juggernaut --

was being only himself, only human, when he was photographed in November

hitting a bong at a party at the University of South Carolina. That

photograph, first published by the British tabloid News of the World in

January, resulted in a three-month competition ban and cost Phelps a

reported $500,000 deal with Kellogg. The swimmer promptly issued a sniveling

apology, copping to "regrettable," "inappropriate" and "youthful" behavior

(doesn't the latter want to excuse the former?). Phelps, 24, has more or

less cheerfully dined on PR ashes ever since, in interviews with Matt Lauer,

among others.

Interestingly, the apology from the world's fittest stoner infuriated

proponents of legal weed, who saw the episode as a missed opportunity to

advance the cause. After all, if Aqua-Man smokes bud, how bad can it be?

This is the greatest Olympian of all time, a man chandeliered with gold

medals on the cover of Sports Illustrated. His achievements mock the moral

hysteria that traditionally rains down on marijuana.

The Subway ad itself is nothing special. It's a compare-and-contrast between

Phelps' glamorous life as a sports superstar and that of Jared Fogle,

Subway's former-fatty mascot. Jared prefers the low-fat sweet-onion Chicken

Teriyaki sandwich, while metabolic dynamo Phelps dares to eat the foot-long

Meatball Marinara with Jalapeño, containing 1,060 calories and more than

3,000 milligrams of sodium.

Eating these will not make you an Olympic swimmer. A floating island, maybe.

Culture deconstructionists will pick the spot apart for oblique references

to the scandal. Phelps' chin whiskers are kind of bro-ish, for instance. He

does look a trifle baked (could be the chlorine). AdWeek's Eleftheria Parpis

wrote that "you can almost hear all the blunts lighting up in support as Sly

& The Family Stone's 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)' kicks in."

And it really is too bad that the sandwich franchise's website is

subwayfreshbuzz.com.

Even so, the Phelps-bong scandal seems to have been safely put to bed, and

now that it has, it's worth asking, what have we learned? The consequences

to Phelps -- actually, the lack of consequences -- suggest that something

bigger than mere endorsement dollars is in play. It seems Phelps has moved

the weed needle.

Yes, USA Swimming, the sport's national governing body, suspended Phelps for

three months, time he used to whip himself into shape after his post-Olympic

bacchanal. (The organization also withheld its monthly stipend, an amount

that probably wouldn't put gas in Phelps' Bentley.)

Yes, Kellogg declined to re-up with Phelps, but tellingly, other endorsement

deals remained intact: Speedo, Omega, Subway and Mazda China. Subway didn't

hesitate to stand by its man (though it did postpone the current ad campaign

six months to let the agita die down). Mazda required Phelps to record a

minute-long mea culpa directed at the people of China -- mortifying but

harmless. In June, Phelps inked a deal with H2O Audio, maker of high-end

waterproof headphones.

In other words, there were no serious consequences. To the extent that

endorsement opportunities are a rough metric of how well someone in public

life is liked, admired, respected, the bong-heard-round-the-world scandal

might as well never have happened. With the benefit of hindsight, Kellogg

execs might well be kicking themselves.

You could ascribe the missing fallout to Phelps' incredible personal

magnetism or -- far more likely -- to the fact that advertisers saw little

downside to being associated with bong-meister Phelps.

Nor should they. Across the board, marijuana is being steadily

decriminalized and de-stigmatized. In a Field Poll in May, 56% of

Californians favored legalization, slightly ahead of the roughly half of

Americans who favor such a move. Thirteen states have legalized medical

marijuana, and three more are considering it. In a dozen states, possession

of less than an ounce of marijuana is not illegal. One hundred million

Americans have smoked pot, and about 14 million use it regularly, according

to federal government studies. U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder has said the

federal government would no longer raid California medical marijuana

dispensaries.

Ethan Nadelmann, of the legalization-advocacy group Drug Policy Alliance,

told the Associated Press last month: "This is the first time I feel like

the wind is at my back and not in my face."

I'm sure, given the choice, Phelps would prefer not to be a milestone on the

road to the marijuana's mainstreaming. Still, what we're witnessing is the

death of a certain kind of shame.

Advertising -- and that's what celebrity-athlete endorsements are -- is a

highly sensitive antenna of culture. Because it strives to reach, hold and

please the greatest number of people, it represents a special threshold of

cultural acceptance, the floorboards of the norm. The return of brand Phelps

says more about us than it does about him.

dan.neil@latimes.com

[Canadense]

po...

Galera maconheira ja comia subway antes... agora....

[Bas]

Sai um frango teriaki ai com Cheddar, Coca de 500

Valeu!

No pao grande, nao esquece

[didimoco]

Caraio, com aquele pulmão, ele deve ter acabado com o bong em uma baforada só.

E se o recordista de medalhas de ouro em uma unica olimpiada fuma maconha, que mal pode a maconha fazer...

[Avalokiteshvara]

putz, eu ia traduzir, mas ainda que eu entenda 100% do que está escrito, traduzir esta reportagem está osso... tem, umas coisas que simplesmente nao rola....

And it really is too bad that the sandwich franchise's website is

subwayfreshbuzz.com.

Essa foi matadora, hehe

E o fechamento da matéria é perfeito!

Advertising -- and that's what celebrity-athlete endorsements are -- is a

highly sensitive antenna of culture. Because it strives to reach, hold and

please the greatest number of people, it represents a special threshold of

cultural acceptance, the floorboards of the norm. The return of brand Phelps

says more about us than it does about him.

[GrowerX1999]

Comédia em!

Fui no subway semana passada, curto bagarai!

Agora nada como dar umas bongadas igual o Phelps e pedir um teryaki na larica!

[jusus]

Que mal pode fazer? Ninguém sabe.

Que bem pode fazer?

[Gandhi GanjaMaster]

Caraio, com aquele pulmão, ele deve ter acabado com o bong em uma baforada só.

E se o recordista de medalhas de ouro em uma unica olimpiada fuma maconha, que mal pode a maconha fazer...

Hehehe rachei o bico lendo isso ...

[urutubsb]

Hehehe rachei o bico lendo isso ...

2!