He may be a four-time Super Bowl champion, but from now on, the record books will all need to follow New England Patriots’ Tom Brady’s name with an asterisk.
The quarterback, touted “Terrific Tom” and “Mr. Super Bowl” for leading his team to victory in numerous high-profile games, was found to be “more probable than not” aware that NFL personnel released air from regulation game balls in order to secure the Patriots an unfair advantage.
It is unclear how this will affect the prospective Hall of Famer’s reputation, but there is a chance that his endorsement deals with Uggs, Movado watches, Under Armour and Glaceau Smartwater could suffer as the result of the ball tampering.
If so, Brady would not be the first celebrity to cause harm to a brand name due to illicit or inappropriate activity. Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong and Paula Dean are all examples of American icons who lost endorsement deals because of public outrage and scandal.
Corporate entities do have an option to protect themselves, however: death and disgrace insurance.
Lloyd’s of London, one of the world’s most prominent providers of these policies, began to offer this coverage after realizing that many organizations interested in a celebrity spokesperson were left high and dry in any case of physical or reputational injury.
“Looking at Disgrace in the context of some recent widely-publicised ‘falls from grace’ in the increasingly pressured world of sports and its business identities, it would be reasonable to assume that these risks are routinely covered off by contract restrictions, or insured as standard. That is not always the case,” said Amanda Lewis, class underwriter with Lloyd’s syndicate AEGIS London.
Lewis points out that these incidences are not relegated to one domain, but rather “exist on a global scale, across all sports and entertainment spheres.”
“Given the increasing reliance on celebrity status to enhance a brand or product identity – not always limited to sponsorship – there is an increasing need for service practitioners and brand stakeholders to examine the co-existence between the business using the celebrity or sports identity and the celebrity involved,” Lewis added.
Death and disgrace coverage is invaluable, partially because it involves extensive research and a deep understanding of the “complex legal environment” in which contracts are signed. “And add to this the risk of death or serious accident happening during this high-hazard sport…it’s a difficult risk to underwrite,” said Lewis.
