Just had a read of Shaun Rein's latest Forbes column. Inspired by the fall-from-grace of uber-swimmer Michael Phelps, Shaun writes about the risks of using celebrities as spokespeople, especially in China:

The Michael Phelps pot fiasco may blow over in the U.S., where attitudes about marijuana are comparatively relaxed, and where we now have a president who admits to having used cocaine. But brands like Omega and Visa that support Phelps are finding their image in China truly damaged, because attitudes towards drug use are much more conservative there than in the U.S. As one 34-year-old Beijing woman said, "I've lost all respect for Phelps, even though he's a great athlete."

Identifying with James Bond works for Omega watches, no matter whether Bond is Pierce Brosnan or Daniel Craig. That's because the Bond image is carefully cultivated around a fictional persona. Identifying with a 23-year-old who parties too much is hardly as dependable.

In China Christian Dior got hit harder than any of Phelps' brands when its celebrity endorser, Sharon Stone, made cruel remarks about the millions of victims of the Sichuan earthquake last year, saying they deserved what they got because of China's treatment of the Dalai Lama. Her remarks sparked immediate protests, and Dior suffered a major setback in one of the world's strongest-growing cosmetics markets.

Shaun walks through a few other examples in China, including some that flew and some that, for interesting reasons, he feels did not. Among the losers were Tiger Wood's Buick endorsement (nobody believes he drives a Buick -- the car brand is inconsistent with his brand in China), and Liu Xiang, who in addition to his obviously problematic Olympic choke, was so overmarketed that some of his sponsors get lost in the shuffle.

I'm not a general marketer, I'm a PR person. So I'll refrain from passing judgment on the overall effectiveness of celebrity endorsement. But cases like that of Phelps or Sharon Stone interest me because they illustrate the PR risks of celebrity-based marketing. Almost by definition celebrities are wonky and unpredictable. American sports celebrities are so far out there that the few squeaky-clean ones, like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, feel like statistical outliers. Hollywood is not far behind.

When most marketing campaigns fail, they fail relatively softly, simply by being unmemorable or inconsistent or poorly targeted. Marketing money is wasted, market share or consumer awareness suffer, but reputation is more or less intact. There are exceptions, especially in China where culturally insensitive campaigns periodically get foreign companies into hot water, but because messaging and presentation are in the company's control they usually have no one to blame but themselves.

Celebrities are not under the control of the marketer. There may be contractual terms requiring certain standards of conduct, but sometimes people simply say or do silly things, or say things that are acceptable at home but  explosive in overseas markets (see Sharon Stone). And when celebrity endorsements fail, they often fail badly, with severe consequences for sponsors' reputations thanks to just these kinds of scandals.

You can insulate yourself financially with penalty clauses, but it's hard to insulate yourself reputationally, especially in the modern, instantaneous, social and digitally charged media environment. You'll never distance yourself faster than the Internet will move. After all, Kellog dropped Phelps like a two-headed kitten after his scandal. But by that time the "Weedies" horse was already out of the barn.

This applies everywhere, but the triggers and thus the risks and potential consequences will vary from market to market. Something, perhaps, for China-based PR teams for consumer brands to consider as they do their issues and crisis planning, and for global brands with large China businesses to consider when choosing endorsements. A hint for luxury brands targeting China: Think twice about a Richard Gere endorsement.

As for Phelps, perhaps the following apology, courtesy of the indispensable Youku Buzz, will help. It is, however, a little vague as to the nature of the sin he's apologizing for:

Sorry for what I did. Whatever it was.