Media Monster

ESPN’s Jenn Brown Not Homewrecker, IS New Icehouse Beer Spokesperson

First, you heard Kenny Chesney was cheating with none other than ESPN college football reporter Jenn Brown. Then, you heard that story was bunk. Well, here’s an actual fact about Brown: soon, you’ll be able to see her as the “national spokesperson” and “brand ambassador” for Icehouse beer.

Business-wise, seems like a good move for both sides – Brown gets to front a national ad campaign, and Icehouse gets an attractive football-involved lady to win over the coveted 18 (okay, fine, “21″)-34-year-old male beer-drinking demographic, a segment of the population notorious for football- and attractive-lady-loving.

SI’s Richard Deitsch, however, notes one reason to question the proceedings:

Should someone who covers college athletes be the spokesperson for a beer company? In my opinion, it’s unwise

We see what he’s saying here. Indeed, a good number of the athletes Brown covers can’t legally drink, and any combination of “alcoholic beverage advertisements” and “minors” won’t fly with some people.

At the same time: as Chris Bosh would tell you, it’s all business. College football is a business and the media is a business – if Brown’s work in the intersection of those areas has afforded her this opportunity, she should be able to take advantage. As long as her job doesn’t require her to report on Icehouse beer, her objectivity shouldn’t be compromised.

In truth, we probably wouldn’t have even made the “college sports/beer” connection if Deitsch hadn’t said anything…we just would have though, “oh look, there’s an attractive woman selling beer, nothing out of the ordinary.” But now that he said it, we’ll always be mindful of it.

And that’s the point – it seems like there’s a nagging issue in the moral implications of this. While not many (not any?) people view college athletics as a paragon of virtue and purity anymore, deals like Brown’s will only make cynics all the more hardened.

She has every right to make this deal (and ultimately was probably smart to), but to enjoy the spoils she’d better be ready to face the doubters, too. But fresh off facing tabloid “reporting,” doubters probably won’t seem too difficult to handle.

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