Everyone has seen the photo of what appears to be Michael Phelps smoking a bong. Phelps has said he made a mistake and has not denied that the photo is of him.

Readers of this blog know that we absolutely detest athletes who are caught wearing or using products that compete with the products that they actually endorse. Just this past year, I saw an athlete wearing a watch that is a competitor of the brand he endorses and this was on TV.

That's why we seriously think Phelps deserves some props for wearing the brand of watch that he has endorsed for years.

Photo By: News of the World Michael Phelps

The watch in the photo appears to be too far away, but we called a watch expert who says that he's 99 percent sure that the watch in the photo, from "face" to "case," is an Omega watch.

Not only that, he says he's pretty sure it's a former version of Omega's "Seamaster" watch, which is listed specifically as Phelps' favorite watch on Omega's Web site.

For their part, the folks at Omega have had the most ridiculous response to Phelps' transgression, saying it was a private matter and a "non-issue."

Well, we know it's neither.

The real question is, is it a good or damaging thing to have your watch in this photo?

At first, you might say definitely damaging. That Omega officials would probably rather have Phelps wearing the competitor's watch.

But after thinking about it a bit more, I'm not exactly sure that's the truth.

Phelps doesn't swim with a watch. So this has now become the most high profile photo of Phelps wearing a watch. If it's your competitor, your endorsement deal is essentially done. The photo that will get passed around the most has your endorser wearing a watch of another. On the flip side, how much damage does it really do to your brand that it's on Phelps' wrist while he's posing for this unflattering photo?

So we leave it to you to vote.

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Questions?  Comments? 

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