Wake Up Wrangler

            For the better part of the ‘00s, Wrangler Jeans has been using Brett Favre and Dale Earnhardt Jr. as their spokesman. In the beginning, it wasn’t such a bad idea. Favre was the beloved quarterback of the Green Bay Packers. Earnhardt Jr. was NASCAR’s most popular drive behind the wheel of the #8 Budweiser Chevrolet. Whether or not you supported either of these two guys, you couldn’t of argued with a company using them to sell their product.

            Fast forward to 2010. Brett Favre is now playing for his 3^rd team. After his best statistical season in 2009, Favre threw a devastating late interception against the Saints to cost Minnesota a chance to play in the Super Bowl. He broke his ankle in a game at Lambeau, was given a 12 stitches and a bloody nose against the Patriots, and just last week suffered a severely sprained right shoulder. And oh ya, there’s allegations that he sent pictures of his privates to a former New York Jets employee. Keep in mind that Favre’s wife is a cancer survivor, which adds more points to the Favre “creeper meter”.

            Dale Earnhardt doesn’t have allegations of lewd text messages, but he probably wishes he did, because that would divert attention from his sub-par driving. Junior has only won once since joining Hendrick Motorsports (the same organization that fields cars for Jimmie Johnson) in 2008. Earnhardt’s funk has not only hurt his status, but the entire sport of NASCAR as well. I won’t sit here and compare his effect on NASCAR to Tiger Wood’s impact on the PGA, but he’s not far off. TV ratings for all NASCAR events have dropped significantly over the past three years, and attendance is as low as it’s been since the late-80s. NASCAR’s popularity issues can’t be all blamed on Junior, but it wouldn’t hurt if their most popular driver could be much more competitive.

            The moral of this short story is simple. How can Wrangler keep trotting these guys out in new advertisements? Have their executives been buried under a rock for four years? I would think someone at one of their advertising meetings would raise their hand and say, “Brett Favre is one of the most hated men in America. Can’t we get Tim Tebow?” At some point you have to cut the cord and find some people who will be better pitchman. Or at the very least, people who won’t annoy me so much when a commercial featuring them comes on the air.