They come back.

They always come back.

Thank you so much for coming back!

Last November, Penn State lost multiple sponsors in the fallout of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal. Among them was Cars.com, which pulled its advertisements from ESPN, saying that it wished to celebrate “the sport, its fans, and the dedication of its student athletes,” which it could not do under the so-called environment at Penn State. In other words, they were scared to lose profits from a program undergoing moral decay.

Eight months since that moment of darkness, corporate America has good news for Penn State. Cars.com VP of Marketing, Linda Bartman, announced that her company believes there is now a positive aura surrounding Penn State football. Unless the program descends into the abyss, Cars.com will advertise on ESPN when the Nittany Lions take the field during the 2012 season again.

The return of Cars.com symbolizes the homecoming of “Success with Honor” and that major national players are seeing the university in a better light. Let’s hope that Sherwin-Williams, the Red Cross, and Jake from State Farm will do the same.

However, not everyone supports the decision for advertisers to return to Penn State. Ronn Torossian, the CEO of PR agency 5WPR, asked salesmen to consider, “What marketer who has children can go home to look at their kids and tell them about being in business with Penn State?” Jerk.