Late last week, Kellogg announced it was dropping Olympian Michael Phelps. His team suspended him and law enforcement officials were considering pressing charges. This all transpired after a photo of the swimmer, indulging in a bong hit, surfaced in the U.K.'s News of the World.

Phelps, once one of the most highly sought after spokespeople in the world, was believed to have an earning potential of up to $100 million. Now all of that, much like Cheech and Chong, is up in smoke.

Some of the companies that have already inked contracts with Phelps, like Omega watches and Speedo swimwear, rallied around the record-setting gold medalist. However, following the statement that "Michael's most recent behavior is not consistent with the image of Kellogg," it remains to be seen what Subway, AT&T and others will do.

Phelps' recent ordeal spotlights the risk a marketer takes when they sign a mega million-dollar deal with the athlete or celebrity du jour. The fact is, they are just human beings. And people, well, have weaknesses. In Phelps' case, his Achilles heel is likely the fact that he is only 23 years old.

Still, Phelps (who already had a DUI charge on his record) should serve as yet again another reminder as to what kind of headaches could loom for a brand interested in signing a celebrity. Because the fact of the matter is, no matter how many gold medals a person has, there is no such thing as a "safe" celebrity spokesperson.

I'm sure Martha Stewart absolutely blew Kmart's minds when she was brought up on charges for insider trading. Stewart, a TV personality, media mogul and former model, seemed like another kind of model—a model citizen. But, greed and/or bad advice put her behind bars.

Then you look at Charles Barkley, who seemed to have put his bad-boy days behind him, until he got pulled over for allegedly driving under the influence recently. Making matters worse were reports that he allegedly told the police that he was on his way to a booty call. T-Mobile must have been thrilled.

Of course, a brand could just trot out Peyton Manning just like everyone else. But, there also is a great deal of risk in that strategy, too—namely injury. I'm sure that MasterCard, Sony and Manning's other sponsors were anxiously awaiting reports about his offseason knee surgery in 2008 leading up to the start of the past NFL season.

Athletes get injured so often that appearing in a Chunky Soup commercial or on the cover of the Madden Football videogame or Sports Illustrated is considered a jinx.

Even golf isn't safe. Gatorade had to be wondering what kind of bad karma the brand had as it watched Tiger Woods go down with a knee injury at the same time he was launching his eponymous Gatorade line extension. Needless to say, Tiger (the drink) didn't break any sales records just like Tiger (himself) didn't break any records on the greens after he underwent surgery for a double-stress fracture.



Then there is the inescapable fact that even healthy athletes who happen to be solid citizens—LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal or Reggie Bush—start to look tired pretty quickly. These guys have shilled for so many different companies that consumers get confused, and the endorsement means little.

That might be why some brands have chosen to take the opposite tack by embracing bad boys to give their brands an edge. Reebok aligned itself with Allan Iverson while a fledgling SoBe signed golfer John Daly.

Most brands, however, don't choose to sign compromised spokespeople; they just end up inheriting them after the ink dries. Michael Vick was the face of the NFL and frontman for Nike and a whole host of brands before the news broke about the Bad Newz Kennels. Before him, Kobe Bryant sent his sponsorship partners scurrying when he was accused of rape. And the list goes on . . .

So what's the solution? Hiring character actors? Not so fast. The omnipresent Dell Dude Ben Curtis was arrested for possession on the eve of signing a lucrative deal. Those negotiations ended fast. (Curtis ended up waiting tables at a Mexican joint in New York City, by the way.)

Perhaps brands would be better off just letting their agencies come up with imaginary characters, ones that will do and say anything and everything they want without the fear of them ending up in trouble. After all, Tony the Tiger will never get pulled over for DUI. Lee, the SoBe Lifewater lizard, will never be convicted of dog fighting. And the E*Trade talking babies will never get busted for insider trading.

Meanwhile, Subway and others will have to deal with the negative halo Phelps has now hung over them. A pot-smoking party kid certainly wasn't what they paid for.

But, we've forgiven our athletes like Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry for drug use in the past. Hell, we've even forgiven our presidents. So, in the end, we will pardon Phelps. But the question is, as a marketer with millions riding on an endorser's actions, do you really want to be in the business of granting forgiveness?