Why Is NBC News' Tiki Barber in a Cadillac Commercial?

When former Giants running back Tiki Barber retired from the NFL to take a job in broadcasting, he made it clear that he wanted to be more than just a sports commentator -- he wanted to be a journalist. And when it was announced that he'd begin working for NBC in April, the network said he would work both for NBC Sports and for NBC News.

That's why, as Richard Sandomir reported in the New York Times,

One result of working for NBC News, which oversees "Today," is that Barber will surrender endorsements worth "multiple seven figures" with Cadillac, Johnston and Murphy, McDonald's, the Dish Network and Foot Locker, said Mark Lepselter, Barber's agent and manager.

So as I watched the NCAA basketball tournament I was quite surprised to see Barber appear in a Cadillac ad. Here is a longer version of the ad that aired on CBS today:

You could argue that Barber can still appear in ads because he doesn't start working with NBC until April. But that doesn't hold water -- the ad itself identifies Barber as a broadcaster. And as a broadcaster, he has no business making commercial endorsements.

Many non-journalists will no doubt see this and wonder what the big deal is, but it is a big deal: General Motors is a huge corporation, and dozens of NBC News stories could be called into question if Barber, a paid GM pitchman, is reporting them. Barber and NBC News should have straightened this out long before the network announced Barber was joining its news team.