Friday, April 09, 2010
Tiger Woods the brand
Tiger Woods' problems & time off didn't affect his game in the slightest. Incredible skill linked to great focus & concentration.
Tiger's scandal was so media-driven. It was a personal problem. None of our business, really. Except that Tiger Woods as a brand had gone so far beyond golfing & endorsing sporting goods. Golf-related advertising is aimed at the successful, or aspiring-to-success, professional family man. Luxury cars & SUVs big enough to hold two kids comfortably, but sporty enough for driving alone on winding two lane roads through beautiful scenery. Stuff that improves a large, suburban home with a big lawn. High end vacation resorts. A great pro golfer always has credibility when endorsing clubs, balls, & shoes. But if he's a lousy family man, Disney & General Mills & the makers of four door sedans & lawn tractors don't have much use for him. His financial advice - money to send the kids to college & retire comfortably - becomes suspect because his wife & children can't trust him when he's out on the PGA circuit staying in the first class hotels he promotes. He uses his app-heavy cellphone service to send dirty messages to his girlfriends. & that's just in America. As one of the most famous athletes in the world, Tiger Woods is a global enterprise. Tiger Woods the brand needs rehabilitation.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
Tiger's scandal was so media-driven. It was a personal problem. None of our business, really. Except that Tiger Woods as a brand had gone so far beyond golfing & endorsing sporting goods. Golf-related advertising is aimed at the successful, or aspiring-to-success, professional family man. Luxury cars & SUVs big enough to hold two kids comfortably, but sporty enough for driving alone on winding two lane roads through beautiful scenery. Stuff that improves a large, suburban home with a big lawn. High end vacation resorts. A great pro golfer always has credibility when endorsing clubs, balls, & shoes. But if he's a lousy family man, Disney & General Mills & the makers of four door sedans & lawn tractors don't have much use for him. His financial advice - money to send the kids to college & retire comfortably - becomes suspect because his wife & children can't trust him when he's out on the PGA circuit staying in the first class hotels he promotes. He uses his app-heavy cellphone service to send dirty messages to his girlfriends. & that's just in America. As one of the most famous athletes in the world, Tiger Woods is a global enterprise. Tiger Woods the brand needs rehabilitation.
Labels: sports
