the announcement prompted strong criticism from inside and outside the AMA. Within a few weeks, the association announced it would ask Sunbeam to release it from the arrangement, stressing that it was the association that had erred, not the corporation. AMA Chair Thomas R. Reardon and Executive Vice President P. John Seward issued a statement that said, in part: "Our decision to approve the Sunbeam agreement in the form adopted was an error. As a result, our credibility was called into question. The AMA apologizes for creating public doubt about our motives" The executives indicated that the association would take steps to ensure no further product-endorsement deals would be contracted. Subsequently, a committee was formed within the AMA to investigate how the alliance was approved, and later three executives were fired.