In Manila, Nick Giongco reported boxer Manny Pacquiao and Lakers G Kobe Bryant will "shoot a pictorial" for Nike tomorrow in L.A. Pacquiao "has done a few print ads for Nike Philippines," but the project with Bryant is a deal geared "for a much wider audience release." Pacquiao "appeared in a commercial last year featuring Bryant and other top Nike endorsers," including tennis players Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova, Real Madrid MF Cristiano Ronaldo and Chinese Olympic hurdler Liu Xiang ( MANILA BULLETIN, 7/6 ). MAKING A SPLASH: In L.A., Dan Neil reviews Subway's new ad featuring swimmer Michael Phelps and notes it is "nothing special," as it is a "compare-and-contrast" between Phelps' life and that of Subway spokesperson Jared Fogle. Phelps' appearance in the ad suggests the scandal that resulted after he was seen in pictures with a bong "seems to have been safely put to bed," although the consequences to Phelps -- "actually, the lack of consequences -- suggest that something bigger than mere endorsement dollars is in play." Neil: "You could ascribe the missing fallout to Phelps' incredible personal magnetism or -- far more likely -- to the fact that advertisers saw little downside to being associated with bong-meister Phelps. ... Across the board, marijuana is being steadily decriminalized and de-stigmatized" ( L.A. TIMES, 7/7 ). Subway CMO Tony Pace said that his company had no qualms about continuing to use Phelps since research showed no adverse public reaction since the bong incident. Pace: “We track everything, and what we saw from our research was that people were, by and large, forgiving him. People want him to succeed and understand he’s a kid” ( Terry Lefton, THE DAILY ). ENGINE STALL: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Friday said that his JR Motorsports team, which competes in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, "doesn't have enough money in its current budget to pay for development of the car of tomorrow." Earnhardt: "We have our budget worked out to where we can run this year with what we have, but we don't have the money to develop this car. You'd be lucky to be able to do it just under $150,000 in just an early or preseason development." NASCAR SCENE's Lee Montgomery noted NASCAR "appears to be leaning toward running the new car on restrictor-plate tracks and road courses in 2010" ( SCENEDAILY.com, 7/3 ). BOYS WILL BE BOYS: Atlanta Motor Speedway and Pep Boys have reached an out-of-court settlement of the track's lawsuit against the auto parts retailer over the title sponsorship of the September 6 NASCAR Sprint Cup race. The settlement was not filed with the court, but a track spokesperson said that the race "will remain being called the Pep Boys Auto 500 this year." The track had sued Pep Boys over non-payment of part of its $1.6M naming-rights fee for the '09 race ( SCENEDAILY.com, 7/6 ).
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