Sex and scandal are not the most recent things that Tiger Woods should be ashamed of. Both Woods and Nike have reached new lows with the latest Nike advertisement featuring the golf star’s late father’s voice.
The ad is clearly geared towards trying to gain sympathy for the golf player after a series of sexual affairs emerged, destroying his five-year marriage with wife Elin Nordegren, with whom he has two children.
Fifteen women have been allegedly connected with the Woods scandal. There have been several reports from several different sources that maintain Nordegren met with divorce lawyers before she boarded a plane to avoid seeing the closing rounds of the Masters golf tournament.
Yes, Woods has a lot of pressure on him, and yes, no one can truly know what actually happened with all the rumors circulating. Woods made a mistake—several times over—but people make mistakes. However, one’s sympathies should go out to Tiger’s children and his soon to be ex-wife.
Nike should have never used Woods’ late father’s voice to gain sympathy for Tiger. Let’s face it, Nike’s real goal is to simply make money.
The commercial is in black and white, with Woods’ late father’s voice blaring, evidently scolding him for his indiscretions, as Woods stands with the camera zooming in on his face. His look is solemn and, shockingly, almost emotionless. The ad does not evoke sadness or sympathy—only feelings of disrespect, distaste and shock.
Woods’ father has nothing to do with Tiger’s multiple affairs or Nike’s need to sell stuff. His father should have been left out of it, and not used in a commercial. Nike crossed a line.
As horrible as it is that Nike used Woods’ father as an advertisement, it is even more appalling that he agreed to do it in the first place. Not only did Nike cross the line with the ad, Woods crossed it with them.
In fact, it is even more offensive that he did the ad in the first place. What kind of person agrees to do that? Then again, what kind of person cheats on his wife several times?
In Woods’ attempt to regain his popularity and the public’s forgiveness, as well as his wife’s, he has dug himself an even greater hole that he is highly unlikely to get out of.
Clearly, thinking before he acts is not one of Woods’ strongest traits and unfortunately, it is his wife and kids that end up suffering. Woods will still end up making millions upon millions of dollars from Nike and other sponsors.
From a business standpoint, it makes a little bit of sense why Nike chose to do it this way.
“People adored Tiger, and one of the biggest reasons was because of his father and the type of relationship they had,” said Jeffery Boone, PSU Business Marketing major.
“Families were able to make a connection, and that connection continued, until this enormous debacle came to light.”
The sad part of the whole thing is that Nike is connecting Tiger back to the family guy he was portrayed as, after he ruined his own family. It is awful that because he is too valuable to Nike, they had to approach it this way, to show that he is being punished for his actions—even though he is still golfing and making a ton of money, and Nike did not back out as his sponsor.
The act of using his dead father’s voice to make even more money is completely and utterly ludicrous. It is a disrespectful act to his father and it is atrocious that he chose to participate in the ad in the first place.