Until someone dialed 911 on Feb. 8 to report a disturbance in Hancock Park, the pop star Rihanna and her R&B-singer boyfriend, Chris Brown, enjoyed relatively wholesome reputations. Attractive and talented, the couple were known as sexy but not oversexed, fun-loving but not reckless. The two seemed unlikely to be involved in anything more shocking than an all-night dance party.
That image opened the door to a host of commercial endorsements. Brown appeared in ads for Doublemint gum and milk while Rihanna hawked more than a dozen products, including Nike sportswear, Totes umbrellas, Venus razors and Fuze beverages.
But then came the ugly scene that left Rihanna bleeding and bruised, Brown in police custody and the picture of them as hip, uncomplicated lovers in tatters.
"Good boy, good girl. It's something we'd never expect," said Emmanuel "E-Man" Coquia, assistant program director at Power 106, a radio station that plays both entertainers' hits. "The music that they sing -- they don't talk about this stuff, they talk about other things, about having fun."
The consequences to Brown, 19, and Rihanna, 20, are extensive. She must deal with physical and emotional wounds; he must deal with a criminal case and potential time behind bars. A week after the incident, Brown released his first public statement, which emphasized that blog and media reports that claimed to have received any previous statement from him about the incident were false.
"Words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am over what transpired," wrote Brown. "I am seeking the counseling of my pastor, my mother and other loved ones and I am committed, with God's help, to emerging a better person."
But beyond the courtroom and the hospital, both performers have millions of dollars at stake in terms of possible damage to product endorsement predicated on reputations that no longer exist, branding experts say.
"Whether or not it is true is sort of beside the point," said Matt Delzell, who has worked with Rihanna as a group account director at Davie Brown Talent, a Dallas company that advises companies on celebrity endorsers.
"If people perceive that these two very successful, young, wealthy individuals turn out to be irresponsible . . . then it's absolutely going to hurt them," said Delzell.
