Court Case Of Michael Vick

Michael Vick was one of the most exciting football players in the National Football League since his inception into the league in 2001. Vick was not only a star quarterback in the NFL, but he represented many corporation and their products. Things would begin to turn on Vick in the next few years and he would find himself in trouble with the league, the law, and court of public opinion. Through it all, Vick persevered and found himself back in the NFL in 2011 as the starting quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles. All of the PR practitioners who worked for Vick to bring him back faced extremely difficult challenges.
In 2006, Vick was seen everywhere and represented the biggest corporations such as EA Sports, Nike, and Coca Cola (Seitel,

In approximately 2 weeks, Vick's name was cleared because no marijuana was found. That was minor compared to what was on the horizon for Vick. In April of 2007, an illegal dog fighting compound was found on the property that Vick owned over 60 dogs were removed by authorities (Seitel, 2014). Vick along with three others were indicted in July and the indictment named Vick as a major player in the dog fighting operation. Vick was also named in the indictment as being part of the execution of dogs by means of drowning and hanging (Seitel, 2014). Needless to say, sponsors did not need to wait for an innocent or guilty verdict from the courts. In the court of public opinion, Vick was guilty and no one wanted him representing their company or products. Vick would be found guilty and sentenced to 23 months in a federal prison. If that was not the worst thing that could happen to Vick, he filed bankruptcy in 2008. People love their pets and abusing animals to eye public was just like committing

What team would want to take a chance on Vick? Vick's image was in the gutter and for any team to take a chance on him would also face a lashing from the public. It was reported that Vick paid over 111,000 dollars to the public relations firm Sitrick and Company in 2009 (Shor-Parks, 2013). Part of the PR plan for Vick was putting him through intense media training as well as knowing when to shut up (Shor-Parks, 2013). In a great PR move, Vick became spokesperson for the Humane Society and gave speeches supporting animal rights. In my opinion these were great moves in cleaning up Vick's image. Vick admitted he made mistakes and accepted the consequences. When dealing with the public, a PR practitioner knows that is a very important step. Vick would be a star in the NFL again and the corporate sponsors would return. In my opinion, Vick paid the price for his mistakes and I have no issues with him companies bringing him