Executives at the rental car company Hertz knew what they wanted to project to potential business travelers in the 1970s: speed, reliability and efficiency.
They quickly realize that one man expresses all those qualities. So they made football player OJ Simpson, who died Wednesday at age 76, the first Black star of a national television advertising campaign.
“They have a slogan – the Rent-a-Car Superstar – and I’m the current reigning superstar as far as competition goes,” Simpson told The New York Times in 1976.
The campaign would pay dividends for both the company and its pitchman, who in early Hertz ads was shown racing through an airport terminal and jumping rope obstacles, holding a briefcase instead of a hammock of football. In some of Simpson’s later ads, common Janes and Joes cheered him on while running, shouting, “Go, OJ, Go!”
At the time, decades before Simpson was acquitted of murdering his ex-husband and her friend, he was known for dazzling on the field for the University of Southern California and the Buffalo Bills. His athleticism and speed made Simpson the perfect choice for the Hertz commercials which extended his popularity beyond the gridiron, presenting him as a friendly and smiling promoter known to football fans and businessmen alike.
The ads also opened Simpson’s path for more endorsements: sporting goods, soft drinks, razor blades.
“People recognize me and I don’t think I offend anyone,” he told The Times. He added: “People told me I was colorless. Everyone likes me. I stay out of politics, I don’t try to save people for the Lord and, besides, I don’t look that out of character in a suit.”
Hertz originally had no intention of using a celebrity in its advertising, instead planning to feature a harried businessman running through an airport. The company’s customer base was overwhelmingly white men, and it was unclear at the time how receptive mainstream audiences would be to a Black athlete running across their screens.
But when Hertz executives reviewed their campaign, they decided it needed personality. And Simpson proved too tempting to pass up. A Heisman Trophy winner at USC, he could appeal to customers who shared his enthusiasm for success.
The public’s perception of Simpson changed dramatically in 1994, when network television followed him live as he fled from authorities in a white Ford Bronco after his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend , Ronald L. Goldman, was found dead outside his home. Simpson, who was charged with their murders and acquitted in a criminal trial, was found liable in a civil trial and ordered to pay their families $33.5 million in damages.
When Simpson was arrested, he was still under contract to Hertz, which stopped placing him in ads. The company did not respond to a request for comment after his death.
Over the years, Hertz changed its slogans — at one point to “Where Winners Rent” — and partnered with golfer Arnold Palmer in hopes of duplicating its Simpson success. These days, retired quarterback Tom Brady can be seen building electric cars in a new Hertz campaign called “let’s go!”
But it is Simpson who remains forever intertwined with Hertz. He played golf with company leaders, attended company events and even hosted parties for its best and most loyal customers, according to a 1994 article by The Washington Post.
The partnership generated sales and profits for Hertz, while Simpson annually received hundreds of thousands of dollars for several days of work. It also catapulted him to a new level of fame, expanding his career in ways that many athletes have since tried to emulate. (Simpson found some success as an actor in movies and television.)
“Hertz has put a lot of faith in this campaign and in all my years of playing football,” Simpson told The Times. “Made me 10 times more recognizable than before.”
Hertz’s partnership with Simpson is so strong that its chief executive, Frank A. Olson, negotiated directly with him. The Post reported that after Simpson was charged in 1989 with assaulting his wife, he called Olson to tell him the accusation was overblown.
Olson died Wednesday, the same day as Simpson. The former Hertz executive is 91 years old.
Kirsten Noyes contributed research.
