KOBE'S CASE HAS MARKETERS NERVOUS: Endorsement deals overshadowed by negative publicity.

EURWEB: Headlines: KOBE'S CASE HAS MARKETERS NERVOUS: Endorsement deals overshadowed by negative publicity.

Ad Age magazine is reporting that Nike, McDonald's and other companies that have a commercial relationship with Kobe Bryant, are keeping a low profile in the wake of his sexual assault charges for the time being.

Bryant was arrested July 1 in Eagle, Colorado and was accused of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman, reportedly named Kate Farber, at the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera, a resort in Vail Valley. At EUR press time prosecutors still had not decided whether to press charges, although a decision was expected this week.

Bryant has endorsement deals with Nike, McDonald's, Sprite, Spalding and Upper Deck trading cards that net him an estimated $20 to $22 million a year, according to Ad Age.
Apparently none of the companies were willing to say if any campaigns involving Bryant would be pulled, but some sports marketing experts, such as Brandon Steiner, of New Rochelle, N.Y.-based Steiner Sports Marketing, suspect that will be the case.