In this week's episode, Strasmore deals with marketing agency execs tasked with Jones’ campaignHBO
The second episode in Season 4 for HBO’s “BALLERS” had an interesting take on athlete authenticity, endorsements and activism. In episode 1, Spencer Strasmore, played by DWAYNE JOHNSON, makes a huge investment in an action sports agency (SportsX) with his partner Joe Krutel, played by ROB CORDDRY. SportsX has a fictional African-American surfer, Parker Jones, on its roster who has just signed a big deal with Coca-Cola, and in episode 2, he is upset with how the soft drink brand darkened his skin tone in its marketing campaign imagery and threatens to skip a key surf event. Jones: “I’m proud to be a black man. I just don’t want to be the great black hope. I just want to be one of the boys. Not a black surfer, but the greatest surfer ever. … If they want to market me, they gotta to do it for real. I don’t want to be OBAMA, bro.” Later in the episode, Strasmore is dealing with marketing agency execs tasked with Jones’ campaign. An exec in the meeting says of the ad effort, “I won’t deny race is a component. A black surfer is very unique.” Everyone is then on edge at the surf event before Jones eventually does show up, wearing his Coca-Cola hat. He then wins the event, but when accepting top prize at the podium in his Coke hat, he raises a fist recognizing the black power movement, causing the marketing execs to march off.
TIME WILL TELL: The character of Ricky Jerret, played by JOHN DAVID WASHINGTON, goes into a Richard Mille shop in L.A. to look at high-end watches. Jerret tries one on and asks a store employee if it is the one that BUBBA WATSON uses. She tells him it is the same model Watson wore when he won The Masters (which he actually did, sporting a custom-made six-figure watch at Augusta in ’12). RAFAEL NADAL also wears the brand’s watches in competition.
NOTES:
- At the surfing competition, meant to mirror the Vans U.S. Open of Surfing, the Aquahydrate brand is given prominent placement. The bottled water brand in real life is backed by Penguins co-Owner RON BURKLE, SEAN COMBS and MARK WAHLBERG, who is a co-producer on “Ballers.”
- Strasmore also meets with the mother of a high school QB prospect in episode 2. She asks him to meet with the kid, but Strasmore tells the mother that he cannot, as it goes against the rules of his NFL registration.
