The football season’s climax has come and gone, with Barcelona’s thrilling victory over Manchester United in the Champions League Final, but the papers remain full of football stories, with feverish speculation over which star players are set to switch teams during the summer.
Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo fuelled rumours that he will move to Real Madrid, despite back-to-back appearances in the Champions League final for the English team.
But some players are no doubt anxious about different kinds of appearances.
England football star Steven Gerrard faces trial for affray for an incident in a Southport nightclub, while Spurs captain Ledley King is on police bail for allegations of assault outside a London nightspot.
If found guilty the stars could find themselves faced with an enforced layoff, while their teams may have to cope without their two lynchpins in vital games.
Uncharacteristic lapses
This sort of scandal is the worst nightmare of sponsors who pay millions to sporting stars to be the face of their brands. But help is at hand for companies who wake up to find their stars making the news on the front pages—rather than the back pages—of the morning papers.
King has apologised to his club manager Harry Redknapp for being drunk, but added: “Anyone who knows me, knows much of what has been suggested is totally out of character.”
It is these uncharacteristic lapses in behaviour by stars that are covered by ‘death and disgrace insurance’, of which Lloyd’s is a leading provider.
Stars are increasingly the focal point of advertising campaigns costing millions of pounds.
And there’s evidence they work: celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is credited with boosting the sales of supermarket chain Sainsbury’s by more than one billion pounds.
Dark side of celebrity culture
But the celebrity culture has a darker side, with tabloid newspapers and magazines documenting stars’ indiscretions in salacious detail.
“Companies are using celebrities more than ever these days to endorse their products. There’s much more interest in celebrities’ lives too and firms are taking steps to protect themselves,” says Daniel Wood, Vice President in the Personal Accident, Contingency and Entertainment Practice of broker Marsh.
“Companies are now more aware of death and disgrace policies and since the start of this year I’ve seen an increase in the number of enquiries,” says Wood.
“These policies have always been popular. But with more money around now the value of them has gone up,” says David Bruce, Head of the Speciality division of insurer Hiscox.
The policies tend to be popular with companies who sponsor sporting stars, whose clean-cut images are their main selling point.
As a result, footballers carry a higher rating than other celebrities for these insurance policies, because they have less leeway to tarnish their squeaky-clean personas and remain a marketable commodity to sponsors.
Forgiveness isn’t always available
Supermodel Kate Moss lost several modelling contracts, including Burberry and H&M, after newspaper allegations of cocaine use, but she kept contracts with Top Shop and make-up firm Rimmel and picked up several other lucrative endorsements after apologising for the scandal.
Whereas a multi-million pound television and advertising campaign for drinks firm Bacardi featuring former soccer hard man Vinnie Jones was pulled after he was convicted of an ‘air rage’ incident in 2003.
Cover is available even for those with chequered reputations, though their colourful pasts will be taken into account when writing the terms and conditions of the policy. “You can’t insure against a dead cert,” as Bruce puts it.
