Australian cricketer David Warner has lost a sponsorship deal with LG as he has been banned from international cricket for a year and barred from playing in IPL 2018 as the fallout from the ball tampering fiasco continues. On Wednesday LG confirmed that it would not continue its long-term sponsorship of Warner.
In a statement to Fairfax media, the company said, “LG’s current sponsorship of David Warner is in the final weeks, and in light of recent events, we have decided not to renew our partnership. LG Australia will always look to work with ambassadors that share our core brand values and we take these relationships incredibly seriously to ensure we put our customers, employees, and stakeholders first.”
Also read: David Warner and Steve Smith faces IPL Ban
Warner and Smith’s IPL deals are worth $2.6 million each, the former David signed with LG in late 2014 and he didn’t leave any stone unturned in praising the company’s OLED TVs in advertisements, the commercials were quickly parodied by fans.
Praising them, David said, “I love my OLED. It’s one of the things I look forward to when I come home. I wish it was compact enough that I could put it in my suitcase and take it away.”
Warner’s website states he is a brand ambassador of Gray-Nicolls, Asics, Channel Nine, Toyota and the Make-a-Wish Foundation. New Balance, which sponsors Steve Smith but not the Australian cricket team, would not comment on Wednesday.
Also read: Smith, Warner Suspended For A Year
When asked whether the New Balance was considering dumping its sponsorship deal with Steve Smith, the company said: “We need to wait for CA’s official announcement on the findings and actions from their investigation before commenting”.
The sponsorship deals are often dependent upon the respective player’s current performance on the field, the team winning and, often, their good behavior and popularity off the field. Sponsorship relationships between companies and players can last for years. However, some of the top players can continue to be well rewarded for commercial deals well after they have retired.
