Steve Garvey: The Anti-Ripken?

Unlike Ripken, most athletes struggle in their attempts to be relevant. However, this doesn't always limit their ability to successfully pitch products, provided they seem credible.

Case in point: 1974 National League MVP, 10-time All-Star and 19-year baseball veteran Steve Garvey, who in 1998 and 1999, helped sell Enforma system products Exercise in a Bottle and Fat Trapper, earning a reported $1 million in the process.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, the infomercials ran 30,000 times in 10 months, or 100 times a day. Garvey, who enjoyed a stellar reputation for many years with the Los Angeles Dodgers, along with purported nutritionist Lark Kendall claimed that the products helped block fat and burn calories without exercise. Garvey stated in the pitch that he'd always been an athlete and that he was aware of what exercise can do for the body. He later said that using the product could keep everyone skinny without even needing to exercise.

That's right, whole pizza pies, buckets of fried chicken, and all the hamburgers we wanted, provided of course we used the products religiously. Finally, the magic pill couch potatoes and a nonathlete like Garvey was needed. This truly revolutionary product was available for the amazingly low price of $69.90, plus shipping and handling for a two-month supply.

It was after the company had amassed a customer base of more than 1 million that it was uncovered that the supplements the product contained were in amounts too small to deliver the extraordinary benefits promised despite the fact that Garvey claimed he conducted his own due diligence and that the products worked for him and his wife. In short, the company had made false claims and laundered them through Garvey and Kendall.

In April 2000, the company was forced to repay $10 million to its purchasers and although Garvey was eventually cleared of charges by a federal judge, his flagrant statements about the product were not forgotten. Perhaps a great athlete like Garvey can help legitimize a product that initially lacks credibility, but ultimately it was his personal brand that suffered because he allowed himself to be attached to a brand that lacked believability.

Garvey's very public marketing relationship with Exercise in a Bottle and Fat Trapper provides a vivid example of just how devastating a single lapse in professional judgment can be to one's otherwise strong personal brand.

Business people must assess their careers and determine if there are aspects of their daily job responsibilities where they lack credibility. Does the business card say one thing while daily activities demonstrate something quite different?



On the Ball. What You Can Learn About Business from America's Sports Leaders
On the Ball: What You Can Learn About Business From Americas Sports Leaders
ISBN: 013100963X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 93

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