Valerie Schultz: Michael Phelps screwed up, but why do we expect perfection from heroes?
| Tuesday, Mar 03 2009 08:43 PM
Last Updated Wednesday, Mar 25 2009 06:17 PM
“I guess when you’re young and stupid, you’re young and stupid.”
— N.Y. Yankee Alex Rodriguez, admitting at a news conference that he had used steroids
Maybe my husband has lived with me for too long, because he says he is going to write Kellogg’s a strongly worded letter. (I am the queen letter-of-complaint writer of the family, so I guess this makes him the king.) He wants to express his disagreement with Kellogg’s letting go of Michael Phelps as a corporate spokesperson, and to tell Kellogg’s top decision-makers that he will no longer buy Kellogg’s products, since they are obviously only for perfect people.
To which I say: Nicely done! There is nothing like writing a strongly worded letter to cleanse the soul. Whether my husband will actually mail his sentiments is yet to be seen.
The controversy weighing on my husband’s mind centers on Michael Phelps, the aquatic hero of the Olympics, who won eight gold medals for the United States in Beijing’s pool last summer. Phelps did what no athlete had done before, breaking Mark Spitz’s 1972 record of seven gold medals in one Olympics. In the American tradition, the champion Phelps was then marketed and auctioned to corporations looking for irresistibly famous spokespeople to sell their products. His image quickly festooned boxes of Kellogg’s corn flakes, his finger rising in a “No. 1” sign from the chlorinated depths he calls home.
Then he was photographed doing something 23-year-olds are apt to do at parties on college campuses, and the deal was off. The picture in the British press of Michael Phelps smoking pot was not exactly what Kellogg’s had in mind when they offered his poster for only $4.99 plus three gold tokens found in specially marked packages of corn flakes, limit five per household. Suddenly Phelps was too much flake and not enough corn for Kellogg’s purposes. They had paid their millions for a hero with a much longer shelf life.
Our heroes are dropping like flies, especially the figures associated with professional sports. Football players travel with concealed loaded weapons that go off at inconvenient times; baseball players inject themselves with dubious miracle substances that end up costing them the prowess and the glory they seek. Our role models are tainted; we despair that there is no one for our kids to emulate anymore. Our fallen idols lead us to become an ever more cynical society.
Kellogg’s corporate dilemma is understandable: it is good business to hire a squeaky-clean spokesperson for a product that is marketed to families with children. But perhaps there is a certain dishonor in ditching that spokesperson when he is revealed to be a flawed human being, just like the rest of us: perhaps the true test of loyalty has to do with values more important than the bottom line.
According to Kellogg’s, Michael Phelps, with one bong inhalation, was no longer “consistent with the image of Kellogg’s.” Does this mean that Kellogg’s does not believe in second chances? Can the saint, once revealed to be sinner, never redeem himself?
I believe that Kellogg’s underestimates the compassion of its cereal eaters. People who eat corn flakes understand that other people, even accomplished swimmers, make mistakes and do things they are ashamed of, because as fellow people, they have been there themselves. They have on occasion felt foolish and demoralized, but maybe someone gave them a second chance to make a wrong right. I have heard a possibly mythical story of Thomas Edison entrusting the light bulb prototype to the same young assistant who had dropped and smashed the one the day before, and that had taken the team 24 hours to replace: now there’s a role model, for us and for Kellogg’s.
Besides, if Kellogg’s were really that concerned with offering healthy role models to America’s youth, wouldn’t the company begin by not trying to stuff our kids with refined sugar? Sugar is legal, of course, but in the long run it may do more harm than marijuana to the health of our future leaders.
I don’t mean to excuse Phelps’ poor judgment: as someone who makes a lot of money for his all-American-boy image, he ought to be more discreet (and more law-abiding) in his recreational choices. Phelps has apologized, and has been suspended for three months by USA Swimming. But I think his years of hard work, ambition, and single-minded dedication are what make him a role model, and are hardly negated by one evening’s ill-considered diversion. Maybe the fact that Michael Phelps can make a mistake and the next day pick himself up and return to his training regimen makes him as helpful and accessible a role model as does his swimming ability. You can mess up and still enjoy your corn flakes.
The worship our society bestows on an overachiever does not make him a god. While we rightly have expectations of our role models, especially the ones we pay, perfection should not be one of them.
I hope that Michael Phelps has learned a difficult lesson about the demands of fame. I also hope that the people at Kellogg’s will reconsider their harsh and perhaps hasty decision, and give a young man (or, as A-Rod would say, a “young and stupid” man) another chance to grow up and shine. Especially after they read my husband’s strongly worded letter.
— These are Valerie Schultz's opinions and not necessarily the Californian's.
