EA Sports "severed ties" with free agent RB Ray Rice yesterday, with the company saying that
it "is removing" Rice from the "Madden NFL 15" video game, according to Kevin Clark of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. EA Sports said
that Rice "will be removed from the game's roster on Friday through an
online update," citing his "indefinite suspension from the NFL as the
reason for his removal" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 9/10). ADWEEK's Michelle Castillo noted Nike, which was Rice's "last official sponsor," confirmed yesterday that he is "no longer on its roster." The company follows a "slew of brands that are no longer sticking by" Rice. Though many of Rice's sponsors "ended their deals well before" a second video of his domestic assault was released, a Nike spokesperson "declined to elaborate on exactly when its contract with the Pro Bowl athlete was terminated." Nike has "pulled the running back's jersey from its online store," while Modell's Sporting Goods has "removed the product from its website and its brick-and-mortar locations." When Rice was initially accused in February, sports training equipment manufacturer Vertimax said that it had "no plans to release Rice but was waiting until more facts came to light." The company in a statement Monday said that it "quietly ended Rice's contract in June." Vertimax CEO Michael Wehrell: "After internal discussion about the events that transpired, we determined that a future relationship with Ray did not align with our goals as a company" (ADWEEK.com, 9/9). Boston Univ. communications professor Chris Cakebread said that Nike and EA "couldn't afford to ignore the social media response" to the new video. Cakebread: “It really is the outrage that emanated from our new social consciousness that has caused (them) to retrench so quickly. The last thing a marketer wants to do is look even more embarrassed than the NFL" (BOSTON HERALD, 9/10).
