Marketability

The mayor of Hollywood (Florida) wanted to offer her the symbolic keys to the city when she arrived, but, ‘When I heard that so what, I said to myself, “Nadia, you just messed up”.’

For Pat R., head of TV films at NBC, she has two handicaps: very young viewers don’t know her name, and the story of the love triangle will drive away sponsors. Jay O., vice-president of the International Management Group, which introduces sponsors to gymnasts: ‘Nobody wants to touch her any more. She can be forgiven for in the end being simply a woman who dreams of taking advantage of the American way of life, but unfortunately the American way of life isn’t kind to marriage-breakers who show no remorse…’ For his part, Leigh S., a sports agent, still thinks she is marketable (her escape is straight out of a novel!), and thinks she is still an exciting selling prospect, but Barbara B. of NY Grey Advertising is sceptical: ‘Kelloggs and Reebok won’t have anything to do with her.’ As Vangie H. at the J. Walter Thompson Agency explains: ‘We prefer our clients to be as clean as possible, sorry.’ Dennis B., vice-president of Dave Bell Associates Inc., a Californian production company that wants to make a series based on Nadia’s life, still believes it’s possible: Nadia could earn fifty or a hundred thousand dollars per episode. Don M., whose company, Picture Perfect Inc. of New York, is also planning a film, thinks it would be good if Nadia first made some commercials for household names that are also sexy, such as: ‘From East to West, Ford!’ or a deodorant: ‘No Sweat, Perfect in Any Situation!’ A famous brand of detergent is probably going to offer her an advertising contract as a result of the interview in which Nadia admitted that her suicide attempt with a bottle of bleach when the Romanian regime separated her from Béla was real. Above all, she has to publicly put a stop to the rumours of adultery. Perhaps a sort of televised confession could be organized, a religious leader from her country could be invited, what are they over there, Muslims or Orthodox? It wouldn’t be bad either if she avoided dubious jokes, like the other day when a Rolling Stone journalist asked her whether she was an alcoholic. ‘Me, an alcoholic? Huh… There’s not enough alcohol in Romania these days for anyone to be an alcoholic!’

Despite her tarnished image, the Immigration and Naturalization Service has given assurances that Nadia’s refugee status is not in danger, for the moment.