Chris Brown faces uphill battle to save career

Matt Delzell is a group account director for Dallas-based Davie Brown Talent, a marketing firm that, among other functions, matches celebrity endorsers with companies such as AT&T, Frito Lay and State Farm, among others. He has worked with Rihanna and feels that Brown has a chance to redeem himself.

“The American public in general is very forgiving,” he said. “Kobe Bryant, people tend to forget about that (referring to Bryant’s 2003 sexual assault case in Colorado, which was settled). Success has a magical way of erasing people’s memories. Chris Brown and Rihanna are young and still very popular. They have a chance to put out a new album or single, something to erase memories.”

Then there is the down side. “Obviously, it’ll take them a little while to do that,” Delzell said. “Rihanna is a victim, but we’ve seen in the media she’s been negatively spoken about for not leaving Chris. People think that a woman who doesn’t leave in that situation is not a strong woman, not a Cover Girl endorser, not a strong independent person.

“It’ll take Chris longer to recover. He’s the one charged. They both will see a significant dropoff in brand-celebrity relationships until after a grace period and they come out and do something successful.”

Delzell said there likely will be skepticism by a media-savvy public that is hyper-sensitive to spin, and that any attempt at image repair will have to be built from an honest foundation.

“The key word in this is authenticity,” Delzell said. “It’s got to be authentic. For Chris to come out and do something against domestic violence, to go to counseling, partnering with somebody on the issue, if he does that, there has to be a lot of follow-through and it has to be authentic, or else the damage from it will hurt him more than it will help.”

Portnoy concurred. “Is it doable? In my opinion, he’d have to take time off as a performer and work with battered women for a year or two, to show a commitment,” he said.

“Typical rehab and community service most consumers will think is hogwash.”

Michael Ventre is a frequent contributor to msnbc.com. He lives in Los Angeles.

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