There is a storm sweeping away the credibility of celebrities who endorse brands and anyone or anything associated with them. In an instant, a company’s brand can come crashing down because their celebrity endorser is exposed for some sort of reckless indiscretion. One word, one action, one misstep and it all blows away.

Are celebrity endorsements smart marketing or a problem waiting to happen? On one side of the coin, many companies have decided to forego any kind of celebrity endorsements of their brands. It is simply too risky. Trying to market your brand with a famous spokesperson these days seems like trying to keep your feet in the middle of a tornado. Just when you think you have a representative with a great public persona and a sterling reputation, someone outs them on social media and away they go, sucked up into the bad PR storm that seeks to destroy them and anyone associated with them. Just ask Tiger Woods, Jared Fogle or Bill Cosby. Better yet, go ask the marketing departments of the companies who had hired them to positively vouch for their brand. Celebrity endorsements have always come with a risk, but today the risk seems to be at an all-time high. I would argue that the three celebrities I just listed had it coming. They lived recklessly – or criminally – and got caught. The truth has a way of catching up with all of us. However, the credibility bar seems to be at absurd levels these days. Just two weeks ago, race car driver Conor Daly lost a sponsorship from a major pharmaceutical company because his father admitted to using an inappropriate word during an interview that happened a decade before Conor was born! If companies are that reluctant to associate their brand with a personality that may have been close to someone who did something wrong, where is all of this going to end?

Turn the coin over and you find out that sport apparel giant Nike has hired former NFL player/social activist Colin Kaepernick to lend his image to their latest ad campaign. Is Nike tempting fate or making a smart marketing move? Kaepernick has become a lightning rod for social commentary. People either support him for being a counter-cultural arbiter of free speech or an anti-American propagandist that has incited a national riot. Love him or loathe him, you have to recognize that he is someone already embroiled in controversy. It looks like Nike might have taken on more than they can shoulder. But look a little closer. Who is Nike’s primary target? Young people, correct? They are trying to sell to a younger age demographic who are going to buy athletic shoes, shirts, hats, etc. When is being a counter-cultural icon most appealing? In youth, correct? So what if Colin Kaepernick infuriates suburbanites over the age of 45! Nike plans to sell to the children of the suburbanites who disagree with their parents using their parents’ money! The calculated risk of using a celebrity endorsement is driven by your customers. Smart marketing takes this into account.

Can Kaepernick still falter? Sure he can. Remember that another former football player, O.J. Simpson, was once one of the highest paid celebrity spokesmen of his generation. Anyone can be sucked into the tornado of public opinion. There is always a risk in marketing. But to get noticed, effective marketing pushes the limits of what is acceptable with its target market. Cross over that line and the public is unforgiving. So if you choose to use an endorser to be the face of your marketing, be sure you know where those lines are and choose your celebrity spokesperson well.