After the scandal of carrying a gun on livestream while in a nightclub at 5 am, Ja Morant is receiving harsh criticism from fans.
The NBA has begun investigating the incident over the past several days, and the parent team, Memphis Grizzlies, decided to suspend Morant internally for 6 matches until March 16).
But not only was he punished for competition, Ja Morant began to have his image affected by brands.
According to HypeBeast, the Memphis Grizzlies superstar has had his advertising contract cut from The Coca-Cola Company, specifically the Powerade sports drink brand.
The promotional video in which Ja Morant plays the main character was just posted in early March and has now been removed from all media, including YouTube, Twitter and even on television.
Coca-Cola has invested a lot of money in an advertising campaign called “From Underestimated to Undeniable”.
However, they had no other choice when Morant was involved in a gun-related scandal, an extremely sensitive image in the United States as well as globally recently.
With the Coca-Cola corporation withdrawing Ja Morant’s image from social networks, it is likely that many other brands will also follow this trend. However, there is one brand that has just said that it will stand by the Grizzlies star’s side instead of leaving, and that is Nike.
“ We appreciate that Ja is taking responsibility for her impulsive actions and is proactively seeking help. At this time, we will support Ja and his journey to improve his mental health ,” a Nike spokesperson shared in the press release.
Perhaps Nike’s decision not to turn its back on Ja Morant was influenced by the fact that “The Swoosh” has just launched its own line of shoes for this defender. The new Nike Ja 1 model appeared on Christmas 2022 and is about to release. shelves globally later this month.
Before getting caught up in this scandal, Ja Morant was having an extremely sublime season with the Memphis Grizzlies, flying high with his teammates on the Western rankings.
The player born in 1999 averaged 27.1 points with 8.2 assists and 6.0 rebounds in more than 32 minutes of play per match. Since Morant’s suspension, the Grizzlies have received 3 defeats in the last 5 matches, losing second place in the rankings to the Sacramento Kings.