This week, news broke that Maria Sharapova, who is undoubtedly the golden girl of the professional tennis industry, failed a drug test (similar to the https://www.countrywidetesting.com/collections/methadone-mtd-drug-tests tests often seen in other industries). Sharapova tested positive for a recently banned substance, Meldonium, which she admitted to have been taking for the past decade. Despite the fact that Sharapova came clean (so to speak), admitted to taking the drug and took full responsibility for her actions, she has received swift backlash from the sports community, with several of her largest endorsements such as Nike dropping her. For an athlete who reportedly makes more than $20 million a year from her endorsement deals, this is a pretty huge deal.
However, it doesn’t seem as though the general public is turning on her the same way the major sponsors she works with have, and I believe that is largely due in part to the brilliance of Sharapova’s PR team. I learned about this scandal from a segment on The Today Show, and the first thing I thought when the segment ended was how surprisingly sympathetic the story and the anchors were to her. Some of the most prolific athletes of our time have had their entire careers and reputations brought down due to the use of performance enhancing drugs, including Lance Armstrong, Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire. In each of those instances, the media certainly did not hold back in condemning these athletes for their illegal drug use and it was apparent that the media and the general public felt they got what they deserved for cheating.
Here is where Sharapova’s story is different. Her team is painting the story as though she made an honest mistake, that the medicine she was taking for the past 10 years was medically necessary and she did not read the email that was sent in January alerting her to the fact that the drug was now illegal. The fact that the media is buying this story and selling it to the general public shows the absolute brilliance of her PR team and their skill in spinning this story. She may be losing sponsorships left and right, but people are overwhelmingly more “disappointed” in her rather than furious that a star athlete would cut corners to get ahead. At this point, this doesn’t look to be a career-ruiner like it has been for so many others who came before her.
The fact that this sugarcoated story is working with the media is truly impressive because a simple Google search would show that it’s likely nonsense. According to a study recently published by ESPN, the medication that Sharapova was taking for the past 10 years is typically only prescribed to people with heart conditions for 4 to 6 weeks tops. Additionally, when taken by those who do not suffer from the health conditions that this medication was created to alleviate, it allows them to “withstand more physical pressure, but the body still spends its spare reserves.” Basically, it’s pretty obvious that while she may not have been doping in the conventional sense of the word, it’s highly likely that Sharapova was taking this medication for the past 10 years because of the physical and cardiovascular endurance benefits. Not to mention, since when is not reading an email a legitimate excuse for continuing to take an illegal drug? This is a woman with a massive team of professionals working for her, and yet no one knew that her medication was no longer legal? I call BS.
Overall, kudos to Sharapova and her PR team for spinning this story to be in her favor. It’s truly impressive that she has managed to keep public sympathy on her side (at least for now) despite doing a blatantly illegal thing. We’ll see how long they can keep it up before the media starts poking holes in the narrative.
