Brand Pistorius: rise and fall of a marketing phenomenon

'Blade Runner' ticked all the boxes as a marketing tool, says Simon Chadwick. Except he was human

Oscar Pistorius

BY THE END of 2012, it appeared as though Oscar Pistorius had the world at the tip of his carbon fibre blades. A supreme athlete, successful Olympian and commercial phenomenon, Pistorius was a poster-boy, an icon and a sound business proposition.

Indeed, organisations such as Forbes and Sports Pro Media identified the South African Paralympic runner as being one of the most marketable athletes in world sport. What could possibly go wrong?

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