Ryan Lochte’s endorsement career may be gasping for air, but it hasn’t quite drowned.
Despite losing deals with Speedo, Ralph Lauren and other high-profile brands after fabricating a tale about getting robbed at gunpoint during the Rio Olympics, the Olympic swimmer is getting back on the sponsorship wagon, this time with cough drop maker Pine Bros. Lochte will appear in a television commercial and print ads for the company.
“We all make mistakes, but they’re rarely given front-page scrutiny,” Pine Bros. CEO Rider McDowell said Thursday in a statement. “He’s a great guy who has done incredible work with charities. I’m confident that Pine Bros. fans will support our decision to give Ryan a second chance.”
Pine Bros. has been known for some offbeat marketing campaigns. In 2014, the company employed Martha Stewart, 10 years after her own fall from grace, for an old-fashioned, testimonial-style advertisement that aired during the Golden Globes and raised more than a few eyebrows.
Wait, was that Pine Bros. cough drops ad with Martha Stewart a ransom video? I’m worried.
The spot was directed by former Saturday Night Live writer Fred Wolf, so something similarly eccentric could be in the works for Lochte.
Pine Bros. also utilized the talents of Atlanta-based rapper WakaFlocka for an ad that played during the 2014 American Music Awards, in which he declares, “Can’t live without my Pine Bros., straight up.”
In the wake of the Rio debacle, Lochte has hired crisis publicist Matthew Hiltzik.
THR Newsletters
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
