Tiger Woods is no longer an icon. He no longer is a role model. And, he can no longer protect his brand by stonewalling comment on his alleged affairs. He has gone from an image of class to one of crass.
It is interesting to note how quickly the greatest golfer that has ever swung a golf club can become an average duffer destroying a squeaky clean image and a brand that has made him a billionaire.
Oh, he has admitted that he is “not perfect” and that he was “human” and has had “transgressions”. But he calls all of this a “private matter”.
Sorry, Tiger this is not a private matter, not when you selected to create a brand out of your golfing ability and persona, this is not a private matter when you encouraged millions to buy a car, clothing apparel and razor blades. It is not a private matter when you encouraged millions to watch you in person or on TV on the field of golf and only when you selected to play in certain tournaments.
When you signed those endorsement contracts that brought you more money off the field of golf than what you could make on the golf course, I am sure there was a morality clause in each of them that addressed your behavior.
Apparently a clause that you didn’t adhere to.
You are finding out how easy it is to go from top dog to underdog. Your sponsor’s knee jerk reactions are to hang in there. But, that’s for now. You see, they haven’t assessed the fall-out yet, and more importantly you haven’t exercised any damage control.
Stonewalling the issue is not the answer.
Perhaps some sponsor’s will drop you, others may select to renegotiate your contracts to lower levels of payments — after all you are not what you once were.
And, as someone once said you made your bed ___ __ __. You can fill in the blanks, you went to Stanford.
But, all is not lost. What takes place between you and your wife is a private matter and should remain personal.
But salvaging the brand is a public matter. Sometimes your counselors, whether they be lawyers or flacks, are also so deep within the mire of tabloid trivia they can’t see the clearing either.
Remember you have gone from top dog to underdog.
Americans love both ends of the spectrum. They have very little use for what falls in the middle. Use it; get in front of the story. Silence is perceived as arrogance. Address the issue at hand, people will respect you for it. Be as transparent as you can afford to be.
And remember to play the role of the underdog – they will root for you as much as they did when you were top dog.
3 users commented in " Going From Class To Crass – The Tiger Woods Story "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackYou seem to be more rational when the topic is removed from politics. I am in general agreement with your thoughts about Woods but felt let down near the end of the article. You advise Tiger to “be as transparent as you can afford to be.” I hate to be picky but one is either transparent or not. It’s like advising a woman to be as pregnant as you can afford to be. Either you are or you’re not.
If what you mean is for Woods to appear to be transparent than that’s stonewalling and would contradict your earlier advice.
The reference to being as ‘transparent as you can afford to be’ has to do with Woods relationship with his wife, assuming that relationship is salvageable. I distinguish between Woods the husband/father and Woods the brand — admittedly this is a fine line to walk. He can be transparent about the issue, his transgressions and admitting that he has a problem that he is attempting to work out. He can stop at that point without further involving his family – especially if they are attempting to salvage the marriage. If this is not the case then everything else could be fair game, unless they have a pre-nup and then the parties would have to live up to the contract as agreed upon.
No worries, transparency or not we still have an unscathed idol in Derek Jeter.
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