On Monday, Bob Evans Restaurants launched a new ad campaign to promote its fall menu, touting Ohio State University football coach Urban Meyer as the chain’s “head breakfast coach.”
But that partnership was scrubbed Thursday, one day after the university placed Meyer on leave while the school investigates whether the coach knew about a former assistant’s alleged domestic abuse.
“At Bob Evans Restaurants, we believe strongly in the family first values upon which the company was founded,” the brand posted on social media. “We are suspending the current partnership with Urban Meyer and removing all related content pending the results of the official Ohio State University investigation.”
The promo included a special website, with pictures of Meyer in a Bob Evans jacket, holding a coffee mug with the chain’s logo. That site now redirects to the Bob Evans homepage.
According to media reports, Meyer stated that he did not know that one of his assistant coaches had been accused of domestic abuse. But reports recently came out contradicting Meyer’s earlier assertions.
The Bob Evans ad campaign was to have included a range of marketing efforts, including online, TV, radio and in-store components.
Meyer’s case is the latest cautionary tale for brands relying on celebrity spokespeople to burnish their images.
Papa John’s is working to erase the mark of its embattled founder and former CEO, John Schnatter, from everything from delivery vans to pizza paddles to the chain’s logo after Schnatter was heard using a racial slur on a conference call. Pictures of his face and signature are reportedly to be replaced with images of cheese or vegetables.
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