Media Exposure is Finally Taking It's Toll on Lebron's Public Image

Found this interesting article in today's news.

Poll results show big decline in LeBron James' marketability.

Lebron's marketability seems to take a hit  whenever the media begin a new round of assaults on his character and ability to play. Again they usually coincide with some machination of his own creation but this could start to hit more then his ego as marketability numbers like these will have a cascade effect on his ability to get endorsements and the value of those endorsements. What exactly has happened between now and a month ago? The Miami Heat lost game 6 of the NBA Finals. Were this any other player they would not have the same magnitude and intensity of media exposure to the point of saturation. In fact one could probably make a reasonable argument that without this exposure his marketability would not have taken much of a hit at all.

Look at other NBA Players who have not won championships or lost in the Finals. Did Dirk Nowitzki's stock drop after losing to the Heat in 2006? No. Did Karl Malone's or Charles Barkley's? No. The story that Lebron himself started with his "The Decision" television broadcast has become a self perpetuating media monster that he or we will likely be unable to stem for quite some time.

Moreover other NBA players have actually said far worse things by a large margin and have not become the distinct focus of people's ire. Back in the mid 80's Isiah Thomas told new reporters that the only reason people said Larry Bird was the greatest was because he was white and that if he was black he would be "just another good guy", Isiah never got even close to the level of vitriol tossed at him because of that statement because shortly thereafter he appeared at a press conference with Larry Bird profusely apologizing

The thing is Lebron refuses to do that. Shortly after losing in the NBA Finals Lebron also went into a press conference. But rather then being contrite he launched a ridiculously condescending tirade in which he referred to other people's personal problems.

.You can tell he is definitely feeling the pressure of the media scrutiny and one would be hard pressed to make an argument that it is not driving anti-social behavior in him at this point. It would seem as if he believes he just needs to tough it out until he finally wins a championship at which point the media will lay off of him and hail him as a hero. At least that's the story he seems to have crafted in his own mind. Only time will tell, but so far the hate Lebron train is big money for media outlets.