After a national scandal involving Michael Phelps, a University of South Carolina house party and a marijuana bong, the Kellogg’s company and Subway have announced that they will drop their sponsorships of Phelps.

Since his Olympic conquest, Phelps has been very much in the public eye.  He has appeared on the popular show “Saturday Night Live” and the British tabloid “News of the World,” which caused the marijuana controversy.  In the front-page picture, Phelps was shown using a bong at a college party.  Kellogg’s was the first company to drop Phelps.

            “[Phelps’ behavior] is not consistent with the image of Kellogg,” an official statement from Kellogg’s stated.

            Subway, which signed Phelps Nov. 21, is the only other company to drop Phelps so far.  After saying at first that “Phelps remains in [Subway’s] plans,” Subway eventually began to distance itself from Phelps.

            Though Kellogg’s and Subway have dropped Phelps, most of Phelps’ sponsors have decided to stick with him.  Speedo and Omega have both expressed support for Phelps, despite the controversy surrounding him.  The International Olympic Committee has also been quick to stand behind Phelps.

            “I think that he’s still a good model for young swimmers.  What he did at the Olympics was incredible, but the bong thing, that was just one mistake in an amazing career,” said Collin Craig, sophomore and member of the Athens Drive swimming team.

            The 2008 Beijing Olympics saw Phelps win eight gold medals in swimming, an Olympic record, and opened the doors to a multitude of sponsors.  Speedo, Omega watches and Visa all signed Phelps to sponsorship deals after his domination of the Beijing Olympics.  However, some recent scandals have damaged Phelps relationships with some of the companies.  Though many of them have put support behind Phelps, one can only wait to see if Phelps responds positively to the confidence and bounces back.