August 24, 2008 9:57 AM
Ad Watch: The Doping Marathoner
Li Ning scored a major victory today when the Spanish national team -- wearing that quasi-Swoosh -- went up against the U.S. men's team (wearing the real Swoosh). CCTV's ratings were likely in the hundreds of millions here in China for the gold medal game.But while Li Ning has done well during these Games -- that Opening Ceremony spectacle didn't hurt -- they haven't always been so successful with their endorsers.
Here's an ad from Li Ning featuring Ambesse Tolossa, an Ethiopian marathoner who was scheduled to run this year in Beijing. But this June, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency reported that Tolossa had tested positive for an opiate in a drug test taken before the 2007 Hawaii Marathon, which Tolossa won.
Tolossa has been since been banned from international competition until 2010, and the ad did not run on Beijing TV during the Games.
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