Tiger Woods: The Cost of Pretending

16 January 2010 | By Sonja in Editorials, Media, Sonja

The world’s number one golfer has enjoyed almost unlimited access to GM’s Buick automobiles as a perk in his multi-million dollar endorsement contract with the company. GM, stepping away from the embarrassed golfer, has announced that Tiger is now going to have to buy his own new cars.

No one really cares what kind of personal life Tiger Woods wants to have. The advertising world certainly doesn’t demand exceptionally high standards of celebrities today. The problem with Tiger is that he pretended. The oldest trick in the book: joint rooms with his manager who then disappeared, making room for rotating companions. His wife deserves to be swinging a club at him, considering that his flings were probably putting her personal health in jeopardy when he came home.

A High Price

The golf world has its own rules. Tiger succeeded in breaking down barriers with grace in the upper-crust, convertible and country club world of Golf. However, the concept of marriage and family life is apparently still “expected” in that circle of professional golf shirts. Especially among professional golf sponsors. Tiger Woods took that image to the max while living a double life. America had developed a romance with the “idea” of Tiger Woods, almost the same way we hoped for the “idea” of Barack Obama. Tiger really betrayed that dream and he’s paying dearly for it.

Superstars always seem to think that they can toy with the public, rake in millions, and ultimately, take for granted their place in the spotlight. Media and career strategists are probably working feverishly now to outline the “new” Tiger, who will debut on 60 Minutes, TODAY, TIME and NEWSWEEK, and OPRAH, after an appropriate period of invisibleness. He may take these difficult months to compose his thoughts and excuses in a sympathetic book detailing his secret inadequacies which drove him to behave without character, while …..selling character.

It might work. Might not. The public is so tired of superstars like Mark McGuire and Michael Vick, Kobe Bryant and others who apologize only when all other fibs won’t work. We’ll see. In any event, there has been quite a price tag for Tiger Wood’s sexual freedom. Here’s a bit of the BBC News report detailing the sponsors who have beat a hasty retreat. Even in London….his double life is still news.

From the BBC:

“Woods has lost a number of endorsements since crashing his car on 27 November.

A GM spokesman said the loan arrangement (providing free automobiles) had previously been scheduled to end on 31 December.

Time off

Woods has been engulfed in a media whirlwind since the incident disturbance outside his Florida home.

He has since admitted being unfaithful to his wife, and is taking a break from professional golf.

On 12 December Gillette became the first major sponsor of Tiger Woods to distance itself from the golf star after the storm over his private life.

It said it would limit Woods’s role in its marketing while he took time off to repair his personal life.

Two days later the giant management consultancy firm Accenture ended its sponsorship with Woods, saying the golfer was “no longer the right representative”.

Nike support

On 31 December telecoms giant AT&T said it would no longer sponsor Woods, but gave no reason for its decision.

Apart from AT&T, Accenture and razor maker Gillette, the watchmaker Tag Heuer has scaled down its use of the star, while drinks manufacturer Gatorade discontinued a line of Tiger Woods-branded energy drinks.

A recent University of California study suggested the total economic damage of the Tiger Woods affair to all involved parties could amount to as much as $12bn.

A little too much swinging

But sports equipment giant Nike, which pays Woods a reported $40m a year, has given its support.

Meanwhile, electronic game maker Electronic Arts is is to go ahead with plans to roll out an online game featuring the golfer.”

Sports giants like NIKE, ADIDAS, SPEEDO, TRL, RIDDEL, and others are the corporate leaders who could change sports and the business of making money in sports by simply refusing to pay for “dirty records”, earned through steroid use. They could also require a character clause, and to a degree, some already have them. Kids will continue to be disappointed in their sports heroes as long as the big endorsements pay bonuses whether a record is real…..or not.

We can hope that infidelity is the only revelation that will be uncovered about Woods’ mercurial golf career.

Share This With Others: