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The Tiger Woods drama has ballooned since I last looked at the situation. Of course, I focused a tad more on the situation for Tiger's sponsors. I want to continue that look, but I want to look at why Tiger's sponsors will stand by him, why we are so fascinated by the situation, and the difference between Tiger and Michael Phelps (a.k.a. Aquaman).
First things first, this will not impact Tiger's relationship with any of his sponsors. No matter what you think happened or why the situation happened, Tiger was cited for a traffic violation and will pay the fine with money out of his change jar. Was his act immoral? Yes. Was the act inexcusable? Yes. Is the act something he will be reminded of publicly (and privately) on a near daily basis? Yes. Should his sponsors jump ship and run? No.
Nike (NKE), Gatorade, and EA Sports have all said that they will stand behind their commitment to Tiger, a prudent move. Come on folks, this is one of the (if not the) most recognizable athletes in the world. Woods is sponsorship gold, and there is no reason for any company to bail on him right now. Tiger endorses your product, you have the most recognizable athlete in the world saying he uses your product. Some may even argue that any publicity is good publicity and contend that Tiger's name is in the media so his sponsors are getting all of this "free" advertising. Disagree? How many times have you heard someone asking if he is going to lose sponsors (excluding this time ... as this is truly the most important time it has been asked)? I know in this article I named his sponsors, and I am guessing this happens in the other articles (although you don't need to read them).
One reason Tiger Woods is so popular in the endorsement world is that he had a squeaky clean image. Yes, this image will take a hit, but sponsors will continue to capitalize on his image. As noted earlier, Tiger is among the most recognizable athletes in the world and that is why we are so fascinated with the situation. We all like to see the star fall (present company included), we like to see the politician screw up, we like to see a celebrity train wreck played out in the tabloids.
So, why is this situation different than the one that Michael Phelps went through? As far as I know, Tiger's act wasn't illegal (immoral, yes - illegal, not that I know). Michael Phelps's was, unless you have a prescription in some states. The legality of the issue is the main difference, but some may say that Phelps's sponsors were targeted more toward children (Kellogg's (K)? Yes. Rosetta Stone (RST)? A reach.) and Tiger's aren't.
Tiger screwed up folks, and from all accounts he is paying for it (some have said the payment is in seven figures). What he does from here is the major issue. Will he be genuinely remorseful and change his ways, or will Tiger continue on his current path? Michael Phelps continued his partying ways, living out the Lohan life in spectacular fashion. Will Phelps regain sponsors in the next Olympic games? Possibly, but he will have to continue his good performance.
Tiger and Phelps are two different people going through two different issues. That said, Tiger stands to recover from his situation nicely, while Phelps still has more work to do.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-04-2009 @ 12:24PM
Beltway Greg said...
Mark, you are correct, much has changed. The other shoe?
What if there's a little cub running around someplace and what if one of these women starts talking about illicit behavior? The difference? Phelps is a kid and Olympic swimmers have the half-lives of gnats. Once the torch is extinguished and Dateline stops calling it's back to the pool. Kellogg's figured that Phelps probably wasn't going to make it to London and made a business decision probably helped financially by an ethics clause. Pot is a non-issue today and it hardly would've besmirched his reputation with the under eighteen crowd.
It will be interesting to see if Tiger returns in Jan. or decides to take a hiatus from the sport. Personally I think this is a non-story and the women involved are whores and home wreckers of the first order. In the end he got what he wanted and so will they. The sponsors? They will take him a long time to recover. My daughter is 12-years-old and watched golf because of Tiger. She even went to a tournament and walked the course on a hot day just to watch him. I've met Tiger and I find it hard to believe he was so stupid because he was so unfailingly polite and accommodating.
When we went to the tournament I told my daughter that one day should would tell people that she went to a tournament when she was younger and saw this great man play golf and grown men would swoon. Now they might cringe.
12-04-2009 @ 4:21PM
Noel said...
So smoking pot at a party is worse than cheating on your wife? That is insane. Comparing those two situations is very offensive toward Phelps.
Yes, smoking pot is illegal (for now) in USA but it's legal in other countries and it's just a legality issue. Cheating on someone you've chosen to spend your life with is and has always been unacceptable behaviour. Phelps didn't hurt anyone (himself maybe), Tiger Woods hurt his family very much.
12-10-2009 @ 11:57AM
jjoekiker7 said...
There is NO way the sponsers will keep this liar, cheater, evil man, just think about why a sponser wants a sports hero to represent them, they want a winner in ALL aspects of life, when we want to buy a product we need to think the product will live up to its reputation, like if nike wants to sell an EXPENSIVE GOLF CLUB, they want the man selling it to have an honest reputation, NOT a known liar and cheater, so the man that wrote the article, your as much of an idiot as tiger if you think he will ever be credible or any sponser would want him. except maybe trojan, he could say yes I cheated but I have no STD......I might believe that, no I take that back, I would figure that if he lied to GOD, in church when he took his vows, he probably will lie to me about thequality of the rubber he used to engage in sex all over the world with every woman that would spread her legs................