By Greg Hazley
The president of a PR firm that worked with Lance Armstrong publicly called for the disgraced cyclist to "come clean" in an op-ed published Jan. 12.
John Seng, president of Washington, D.C.-based Spectrum, worked with cancer survivor Armstrong on behalf of client Bristol-Myers Squibb from 1999-05, a time span that encompassed his alleged doping.
Seng, an alum of Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Ketchum and Pfizer, among others, said in a Washington Post piece that Armstrong's cancer advocacy efforts now "sour me on the idea that we need big names to gain support for causes and diseases." The PR executive said Armstrong "always delivered for cancer survivors" and stayed on message in hundreds of interviews stressing that if he could beat cancer and win races, "there's no limit to what cancer survivors anywhere can do."
But Seng questioned by prominent spokesmen are needed to champion cancer or any other disease. "You don't have to cheat to win the race against cancer," Seng wrote in the op-ed," adding, "It's time to come clean, Lance -- if not for your former sponsors and cycling fans, then for … millions more who embraced you as a symbol of hope and true conquest."
Spectrum created and produced the "Tour of Hope" campaign for Bristol-Myers, which had Armstrong crossing the country with amateur cyclists affected by cancer.
Armstrong is slated to be interviewed by Oprah Winfrey on Jan. 14 for a segment to air Jan. 17. Reports indicate Armstrong will admit to doping of some kind for the first time, following years of denials and litigation.
Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles last year. |