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Antonio Brown Has Built the Biggest Brand in Sports – Too Bad It’s Worthless

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Travis Pulver
Last Updated
  • Many athletes these days work hard to build a ‘brand’ to increase their marketability.
  • Being good at what they do is part of it, but not the only thing.
  • This year, Antonio Brown succeeded in developing a ‘brand,’ but not one any company wants to come near.

During his time with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Antonio Brown was one of the best in the business. No one was as dynamic, exciting, and productive as he was. But establishing a brand takes more than just being a great football player.

A player needs to be more than just an athlete. Sports fans will love them and whatever product they promote because the player is associated with it. The average Jane or Joe, on the other hand, will not.

To that end, guys will do all sorts of things to establish their ‘brand.’ But no one has done it as well as Antonio Brown.

Antonio Brown – Fifth Biggest Search Trend of 2019

How can we tell if an athlete has established himself as a brand? Like everything else in life, you check the internet . As it turns out, one of the biggest search trends of the year was Antonio Brown. He came in fifth overall behind Disney Plus, Cameron Boyce, Nipsey Hussle and Hurricane Dorian.

When the search trends are broken out into people, he ranked first, followed by Jussie Smollet, James Charles, Kevin Hart and R. Kelley. He was also first when it came to most searched athletes. Bryce Harper ranked second, David Ortiz third, Andrew Luck fourth and Myles Garrett fifth.

That should make him a dream online spokesperson for any and every product in existence—except he isn’t. Right now, having Antonio Brown as a pitchman would be toxic to anyone foolish enough to engage his services.

The Wrong Brand

Antonio Brown may be one of the biggest search trends of the year and the biggest among athletes; because of that, he has built a ‘brand.’ But it isn’t a good one.

Companies like to have famous athletes endorse their products. But not one that pulled all the silly games he did in Oakland. They certainly don’t want one accused of sexual assault. Signs of emotional and mental instability (i.e., random Twitter tirades) are also not good.

His Twitter game alone makes his brand toxic. What company wants to be associated with someone who calls people racists, curses at them, and does silly stuff like swearing off white women  (because they are the cause of his problems)?

All of his apologies are nice. But they mean little when he follows them up a few days later with another profane Twitter tirade.

People search for Antonio Brown because everyone enjoys a good train wreck. Everyone enjoys watching the drama, and it’s even better when it is
self-inflicted.

That’s why most reality shows are as popular as they are; we find someone else’s dysfunction entertaining. That is why Antonio Brown is going to be trending again very soon when people hear about him live-streaming a visit from the cops.

Everything Doesn’t Need to Be Online, AB!

For most people, having the police come to your house to pick up clothes is not something to be proud of. But Brown has proven that he dances to the beat of his own drum, so he live-streamed the whole visit.

He wasn’t under arrest or even being accused of a crime, but he was as disrespectful and belligerent as could be expected (video is NSFW):

https://twitter.com/360FFB/status/1205906376679215117?s=20

The video is certainly going to enhance the brand that he has succeeded in building. It’s just a shame that it’s a worthless brand.