Survey: Should athletes endorse Botox? (Results so far are divided 53% - 47%.)
OLYMPIAN VS. OLYMPIANS
Olympic gold medal swimmer Gary Hall Jr. doesn’t like the idea of Olympic gold medalists endorsing Botox.
Olympic champions Nadia Comaneci (right) and Mark Spitz (below right), though, are sticking with their decision to do just that.
Hall is a diabetic who is a paid endorser of insulin injection products. That’s different from endorsing a wrinkle-fighter, he says, because that’s a matter of life and death.
This morning on CNN, Hall said Olympians’ endorsements should be about people fulfilling their dreams and goals, not about keeping up appearances.
Comaneci defended her use and endorsement of Botox, which is made by Irvine-based Allergan: “We like to look good, too. What’s wrong with that?”
Spitz said that aging naturally is “a nice concept. But the reality is, is that people are very concerned about their personal looks.”
Here’s a partial transcript of the discussion on CNN:
CNN correspondent Alina Cho: She was a perfect ten. He, an Olympic record holder and winner of seven gold medals in 1972. More than 30 years later, Nadia Comaneci and Mark Spitz are traveling the country talking about achieving your personal best. That includes exercising, eating right, and Botox?
When you think about Olympic athlete endorsements, you think Wheaties. You think Speedos. You don’t necessarily think Botox.
Comaneci: It does, because it’s a part of your life now. You want to look good. You know, in your age. …
Cho: Allergan, the maker of botox is paying Comaneci and Spitz to promote the drug, though neither will say how much. There are critics who say there’s just something that doesn’t seem right about an athlete promoting Botox.
Comaneci: We like to look good, too. What’s wrong with that?
Hall: Botox, you’d have a hard time convincing me that the procedure really made your life that much better or helped you accomplish your goals and dreams, which is really kind of the message for an athletic spokesperson.
Cho: Gary Hall Jr. is an Olympic gold medal swimmer. He’s diabetic and gets paid to promote insulin. But he says only because it saves his life.
Hall: At the end of the day, it’s the integrity that sustains any value that you might have as a spokesperson.
Cho: Isn’t there something to be said for aging naturally?
Comaneci: People expect us athletes to look great. And we have to do everything that’s possible to look great.
Spitz: That’s kind of a nice concept. But the reality is, is that people are very concerned about their personal looks.
Hall, by the way, has a family connection to Orange County. His grandfather was Charles Keating Jr., whose Irvine-based Lincoln Savings & Loan was at the heart of the savings-and-loan crisis of the late 1980s. Keating was a NCAA swimming champion and his son, Charles Keating III, swam in the 1976 Olympics.
- Mark Spitz and Nadia Comaneci to endorse Botox (July 1)
- The world’s most powerful Botoxed celebrities
- Do women use Botox to compete or to fix a lousy self-image?
- The young face of Botox
- 9 challenges to the reign of King Botox
For more on celebrities and cosmetic medicine, see the list of links on the right side of this blog.
This post was revised at 3:30 p.m. July 16 to include information about Hall’s family.
I don’t think it is any worse for athletes to endorse Botox than it is for Sally Field to call herself an “activist” against osteoporosis and then to do ads for Boniva — or is she not getting paid? At least Comaneci and Spitz are up front that these are paid endorsements.
Sign me Socal RN