Michael Phelps' Apologia

Now this story is interesting to me as someone academically invested in image repair and reputation management. Here's a little background on the developing story:

Swimmer Michael Phelps, who has won more gold medals than anyone in Olympic history, acknowledged Sunday he had engaged in "regrettable" behavior and shown "bad judgment" after a photo of him smoking what appears to be marijuana from a glass pipe was published in a British tabloid over the weekend.

His brief apology is below.

"I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment. I'm 23 years old, and despite the successes I have had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner that people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public -- it will not happen again."

All athletes are vulnerable to controversy, Zinedine Zidane (soccer head butter), Terrell Owens (horrible team player) and Michael Vick (dog fighting) are just some of the names we can look to. So we expect public apologies for various infractions from time to time. But sometimes these apologies backfire, mainly because the athletes or public figures reacted wrongly to the situation. Look at Richard Nixon and Watergate. Can someone say impeachment. And then at other times, the public is willing to accept an apology as appeared to be the case with Bill Clinton and the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Using Benoit's (1995) theory of image repair strategies, let's briefly look at Phelps' apology to try to determine its rhetorical effectiveness. Phelps did not attempt to either shift the blame, deny the authenticity of the photo, or claim defeasability (that the act occurred due to lack of info.)Although some would argue that he tried to use the issue of his youth and immaturity to shift blame. I would say that doing any of these things probably would've painted the athlete in a more negative light, as sources would undoubtedly have emerged from the woodwork once reporters started digging around.

I would say that the brevity of his apology was intended to try to reduce the offensiveness of the incident, in a kind of, 'I did it -I said I was sorry -now can it be over' kind of way. And it is notable that he did not attempt to attack the accusers, which he could have done given that the News of the World, where the photograph was first published, is known as a sensationalist tabloid. Phelps also engaged in a little bit of image bolstering by briefly mentioning his 'successes in the pool'. Finally in an act of mortification, Phelps admits to using bad judgement although he never directly states for what.(I'm sure in his mind though he means he used bad judgement in allowing himself to be photographed :)) He went on to promise his fans and the public that it would not happen again.

Now after that analysis, I think I would've done things slightly different if I was on Phelps' management team, in that I would've perhaps gone with a longer apology. As I stated before, the brevity of the apology makes it seem almost as if he's trying to do a quick fix. But in light of the fact that Phelps' was previously involved in another drug incident, a DUI where he was convicted and sentenced to probation back in 2004, I think a longer apology would work better. It would include an acknowledgement that he is a role model and has let down those who look up to him. All in all, I know that this mini-apology is not the last we'll hear from Phelps on this issue as his handlers figure out how to navigate the swell of public opinion which ranges from 'geez it's only marijuana' to 'any way you look at it, it's an illegal drug'.

It also remains to be seen whether or not all of his sponsors will stand with him. Two of them, Speedo and luxury watchmaker Omega have already shown their support with Omega referring to the incident as a 'non-issue' and a 'private matter'. Funny that a big company such as Omega would call this a non-issue. But what do you think? If I have any readers that is! :) Should Phelps take more corrective action?