Quick Follow-Up: Tiger Can’t Have It Both Ways
Tiger Woods has a point when he says our society’s obsession with celebrities’ private lives has gotten out of hand. It’s this obscene voyeurism that creates the market the tabloid press serves by hounding heroes when “news” befalls them.
But right next to Tiger’s point is the fact that our society has other obsessions that work to his benefit. Is it not out of hand to pay $500 for a Nike driver with Tiger’s favorite shaft? Or $900 for a set of the Nike irons he endorses?
Out-of-hand prices create the return on Nike’s endorsement contract with the Tiger and help make him the world’s highest-earning athlete.
Wrinkles in the social fabric
When it comes to the social fabric of our society, Tiger can’t have it both ways.
He can’t bemoan the wrinkle that puts his personal sins on Page One while capitalizing on the one that enables him to leverage his athletic skills into millions of dollars in income (now over a billion, actually).
Like other championship athletes, movie stars and business leaders who ride public sentiment to fame and fortune, Tiger needs to navigate same when it leads him (as a result of his own actions) to less-comfy places.
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Here are some other blog posts about the PR aspects of Tiger’s bad drive:
- Playing a Bad Lie: How Tiger Botched a PR Opportunity (Ella Bee Social Media)
- Tiger Woods Transgression: Can He Recover His Pitchman Status? (New Economy Blog)
- Tiger Woods is Right (Matt Eventoff)
- Tiger’s Imperfect World (Yahoo Sports)
- How Tiger Woods Could Rehabilitate His Image Now (Devil Ball Golf)
