Kobe-LeBron Ad Forces NBA To Confront Handgun Issue Again

Bryant Agrees With League's Stance On Nike Ad

The new issues of SI and ESPN The Magazine contain a two-page Nike ad featuring Lakers G Kobe Bryant and Cavaliers F LeBron James for the company's "Prepare for Combat" campaign, forcing the NBA to face the "handgun issue again" after recently suspending Wizards Gs Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton for the season, according to Richard Sandomir of the N.Y. TIMES. Bryant in the ad is portrayed as saying, "I'll do whatever it takes to win games. I don't leave anything in the chamber." NBA VP/Basketball Communications Tim Frank said in an e-mail, "We had no prior notice of this ad. We think it is inappropriate." Frank added that the league "gets advance notice about ads, and approval rights, only if they contain the NBA's logo or trademarks." Nike said Bryant's blurb in the ad is "intended to illustrate his all-out play and commitment on the basketball court." Nike: "It is a commonly used reference for shooting the basketball and no offense was intended." SI VP/Communications Scott Novak said that the magazine "had no obligation to tell Nike to alter the content of its ad" (N.Y. TIMES, 1/30). Bryant "agreed with the league's stance" on the ad. Bryant: "That ad was done months ago, prior to anything that came out. Obviously, we're very sensitive toward that considering the current time and everything that happened since then. It's definitely inappropriate. I advised my business partners of that." James added that the words were "taken out of context." James: "This has nothing, zero, to do with guns. At all. At all. Zero. That's very simple. For somebody to even say that -- that's a basketball term. To try to highlight Kobe and say that he was referencing guns is totally ridiculous" (AP, 1/29).

BAD TIMING: FANHOUSE.com's Bethlehem Shoals wrote the launch of the ad "has to be the worst timing in the history of sports advertising." Shoals: "This is an absolutely terrible idea, and you have to assume that if there were any way to avoid this hitting the stands, it wouldn't be. No one in any position to decide anything ... would let this ad go through in this current climate" (FANHOUSE.com, 1/29). NESN's Dana Barros: "To have this come out right now is really kind of unfortunate, and it makes me kind of wonder how Nike could let this pass at this time" (NESN.com, 1/31). In Pennsylvania, Rob Parent wrote under the header, "Finally, A Call To Arms Against Nike Ads" (DELAWARE COUNTY TIMES, 1/30).

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS RUN AMUCK: In Portland, Geoffrey Arnold wrote criticism of the ad is "badly misguided" and "goes way too far." These types of ads are "created, polished, and the space purchased months in advance." Bryant and James "have no control over the timing and release of the ad, so don't blame them." Arnold: "How in the world could Nike, Bryant and James, along with the advertising folks at Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine, know that Arenas and Javaris Crittenton would engage in their personal version of Russian roulette? ... Absent the Arenas incident, no one would have thought twice about the ad" (Portland OREGONIAN, 1/31).