Lance Armstrong, who has finally admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs during his cycling career, is facing a tough road to rehabilitating his reputation, with his Q score going downhill, the New York Post reports.
The Q Score is a measure used by marketers to evaluate celebrities’ appeal. Armstrong’s Q score shows that he’s now viewed more negatively than the average sports star: 27% of people now view him negatively, while the average sports star has a negative score of 24%, according to the story.
That’s a far cry from the 11% of people who viewed Armstrong negatively after his seventh Tour de France victory in 2005.
Armstrong’s Q Score remains well ahead of the score for Tiger Woods, who has a negative score of 43%.
"The thing to keep in mind is, how soon did the celebrity respond? The longer the response takes, the worse the recovery period is," said Henry Schafer, executive vice president of Marketing Evaluations, which measures Q Scores.
Armstrong admitted doping during an interview taped this week with Oprah Winfrey, as previously reported. Winfrey revealed today on “CBS This Morning” that the interview, which had been scheduled to air this Thursday on her OWN cable network, will now be aired in two parts — Thursday and Friday — due to the volume of material.
The Armstrong interview has been described as one of the biggest for Winfrey since she launched OWN two years ago, and industry analysts say it could be worth millions to the network as it continues on its path toward profitability.
It is interesting to see how the sports casters are treating Lance vs their sympathy for Bonds, Clemens, etc who didn’t make the baseball Hall. There is significantly more venom towards Lance. The public seems to have more understanding that these drugs were how the cycling sport worked.