Backlash against Kobe Bryant’s endorsement deal with Turkish Airlines

Some Armenian-Americans in Southern California object to the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant’s endorsement deal with Turkish Airlines.

Basketball star Kobe Bryant has signed on to a worldwide ad campaign that’ll promote new non-stop routes on Turkish Airlines between Los Angeles and Istanbul. The ads begin early in the new year.

Some Armenian-Americans say they feel slammed by the deal because the Turkish government fails to recognize the Armenian genocide nine decades ago.

“The Armenian genocide is central, it’s at the core of Armenian identity. So this is an issue that is very visceral for Armenians." Rostom Sarkissian – organizational director with the Armenian National Committee of America, Western Region – says the people he represents didn’t see this coming.

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"To hear someone like Kobe Bryant, who has lots of Armenian fans, to know that one of their heroes is doing something that affects them so viscerally to the core, I think is what is hurting them right now.”

California is home to more than half a million Armenian-Americans. An estimated one-and-a-half million Armenians died in the genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. The Turkish government denies that those deaths resulted from genocide; it maintains that people became casualties of the civil unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

The Turkish government is half owner of that country’s national airline. Sarkissian of the Armenian National Committee says that for many people, Bryant's airline ads translate to an endorsement of the Turkish government.

"So when Turkey continues to deny the genocide Kobe is going to be the face of it. When you, you know, incidents come up with the Kurdish population, minority rights, the unresolved issues in Cypress – Kobe is going to be the face of all this."

Turkish Airlines wants the face of the worldwide basketball star. In a press release, airline officials say they’ve named Bryant the "global brand ambassador." At the end of last season the National Basketball Association named Bryant its Most Valuable Player.

"Strategically this deal makes sense for Turkish Airlines." Andrew Rohm, Northeastern University marketing professor and former marketing director for Reebok, says the endorsement makes less sense for Bryant. "I think in this case perhaps the due diligence wasn't done by Kobe's team."

By Kobe's team, Rohm means Bryant's personal marketing team and representatives. The Lakers guard has long endorsed Nike athletic wear and he recently signed another endorsement deal with a Chinese website. Last year he pulled down about $24 million in product endorsements – more than any other NBA player.

Rohm and Sarkissian spoke on KPCC's "Airtalk."

Leaders of some Armenian organizations say Bryant should step away from the Turkish Airlines deal. Others urge him to at least speak up about the Armenian genocide.

Details of the deal haven't been released. Turkish Airlines officials say they’ve scheduled TV, billboard and print ads in 80 countries during the next two years.

Bryant’s personal representatives haven't commented in public about this deal. Neither have representatives of the L.A. Lakers.