BendPak Refuses to Drop Jesse James from Sponsorship
April 19th, 2010
In the wake of the recent scandal, we’ve received several e-mails about the presence of Jesse James on the BendPak site and in various marketing materials. The events of the past few months have brought national attention to the practice of celebrity endorsements, and it appears that the expected thing to do in light of Jesse James’s recent personal problems is to drop him rather than risk a detrimental business association.
It’s impossible not to draw parallels between Jesse James’s current troubles and those of Tiger Woods. AT&T, Gatorade, Gillette, Buick and Tag Heuer kicked Tiger to the curb when news came out about his affairs. Tiger’s formerly squeaky clean persona helped sell products like watches and sports drinks until it quickly had the unpalatable taste of false advertising and even betrayal.
Some might argue that the entire benefit of putting a celebrity endorser on a product is to build trust between the brand and the consumer. Once public faith in the famous personality is shattered, the brand itself inevitably falters in public opinion as well. Nike, probably the only major sponsor to remain by Tiger’s side, is currently attempting to repair that trust with a haunting black and white commercial that features a reticent looking Tiger Woods staring into the camera while the disembodied voice of his late father, Earl Woods, gently asks him what he was thinking.
But we believe that BendPak customers don’t buy car lifts just because Rich Evans or Jesse James said to. Automotive professionals and hobbyists choose BendPak over the competition because for over three decades, our products have consistently delivered superior performance and excellent value. We only include celebrity endorsers in our advertising to give our customers the tiny thrill of knowing that someone who’s built a life of success working with automobiles uses the same exact tools. In fact, we’re as pleasantly surprised as anyone when discovering a well-known name has a BendPak auto lift in their shop or home garage.
To be clear, BendPak does not condone Jesse James’s alleged behavior and our hearts go out to Sandra Bullock and their torn family. BendPak first began working with Jesse James ten years ago based solely on his skills as a fabricator and as an entertainer.
“Regardless of his personal indiscretions, Jesse has been—and still is—an excellent craftsman, an automotive icon and an entertainer to millions,” stated Jeff Kritzer, Senior VP of Sales and Marketing. “Jesse James has stood by BendPak products for years and we’d be remiss if we didn’t return the favor by sticking with him at his lowest point.”
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I agree, I have been watching Jesse James for years now and dont see how his personal relationships have anything to do with his ability to perform as a fabricator. Millions of people in the world both rich and poor have had the same issues and we dont get fired from our jobs (usually) because we have issues in our life such as these. Good job BendPak.
@ April 20th, 2010 at 08:27Good to see that bendpak wasn’t runnin for the hills on this news.
I think most people understand that Jesse James is human, and that the press wants to keep this going because of his family’s celebrity status. He hasn’t had the same success with being married, as what he has had in business. Keep in mind 50percent of all marriages in the U.S. fail.
I don’t think it is fair comparison to Tiger Wood’s. Tiger had a squeaky clean image for forever. Jesse has had some ups & downs in life already.
Good job bendpak for hanging in there.
@ April 22nd, 2010 at 21:43Cheers to BendPak for not dropping Jesse James. I don’t condone what he did but, hey, he’s Jesse James! What did you expect? He builds cool stuff and he certainly isn’t boring.
@ May 3rd, 2010 at 07:52Thanks for the support everyone! It means a lot to know that we made the right decision by you guys as well.
@ May 3rd, 2010 at 08:48I judge a company not only by the quality of its products but who it associates itself with. And for me the two things that make the guy despicable are who he cheated with… http://gobsmackr.com/wp-content/uploads/michelle_mcgee_jesse_james_nazi_09_full1.jpg
And his other practices… http://static.thehollywoodgossip.com/images/gallery/jesse-james-nazi-picture.jpg
How you can continue to associate yourself with someone like this is beyond me.
@ May 5th, 2010 at 13:36Hi Rob, thank you for the comment.
We were pretty shocked by this whole ordeal, so please believe us when we say we understand why you feel that way. But, if we’ve learned anything from the movie “Young Guns,” it’s that you stick by those who stick by you. BendPak is more than a business, it’s a family. That means we don’t run away from controversy even if it’s unpopular; even if it loses us sales. We hope that more than the company we keep, you’ll judge us by our products and that we try to do the right thing, even when it’s not the easy thing.
Jesse James has stated that he wants to change and that he wants his life to be different. That’s a noble goal that we support, so we continue our association.
@ May 6th, 2010 at 09:33