While Accenture, Gillette, and Gatorade, among others, saw fit to sever ties with golf icon Tiger Woods after his numerous “transgressions” were revealed late last year, Nike laced up their athletic shoes and decided to stick with the club-wielding playboy. Yesterday, on the eve of the revered Masters golf tournament, Nike unveiled their latest Tiger-themed ad, which features a somber and puffy-faced Woods staring silently into the camera as a voice-over from his late father, Earl, speaks:
“Tiger, I am more prone to be inquisitive, to promote discussion. I want to find out what your thinking was; I want to find out what your feelings are; and did you learn anything?”
Presumably, the elder Woods originally proffered those words in reaction to a poor tee shot or missed putt by the young Tiger, but Nike now applies them in the context of Tiger’s marital infidelity in this 30-second, black and white come-back commercial.
Now, I wasn’t one to get all stirred up about Tiger cheating on his wife. Is anyone REALLY surprised anymore when a sports star, actor, or major politician is revealed as a womanizer? Puhlease! These guys face temptation that most of us can only imagine (and fantasize about)! It stands to reason that they’ll take a tumble off the pedestal every now and again. The only thing that baffles me about these guys is why they decide to get married in the first place?! If the world is your oyster, you don’t settle down at Red Lobster for the rest of your life, even if you do really, really love the cheese biscuits.
That said, I find the Nike ad revolting. Tiger’s willingness to allow the voice of his beloved deceased father to be used for such a purpose is, to put it bluntly, disgusting to me. I find THIS to be an even greater indictment of his character than him having bedded dozens of women while married with children. Talk about the ultimate sell-out!
I suppose the one saving grace in the ad is that Nike had the good sense not to close with their tag line – Just Do It. I guess even they realize that Tiger’s already “Done It” enough.
Candy Parker
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Well, that commercial was just downright creepy. I'm sure you've seen his wife? Drop dead gorgeous. What more could a man want? Well, poor Tiger, you know, he's attending sex addiction therapy,and poor baby, competing at the Master's.
ReplyDeleteIf these men(thinking of Jesse James now, too) don't want these beautiful women, we'll take them on our team! Someone send Elin and Sandra a sign up sheet.
Very interesting blog today, Candy, and on target. Keep writing.
Nike is just "banking" on the fact that all will eventually be forgiven and he'll bring big bucks back to the company. This is their, probably only, acknowledgment that Tiger was indeed a bad boy. Nike still markets primarily to the boys, the ad I think is just a nod to the girls that they "get it", he was a bad, bad boy. And now being properly chastised by his daddy, he can move on and continue to generate millions, he's going to need it. Let's face it, the next time he cheats (yes, folks rehab from a sex addiction is a process, bound to be re-lapses) Elin will take every dime. (is it just me or does he look eerily like his dad Earl in this video?)
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