As someone who cannot watch golf without changing the channel, I frankly stopped caring about the Tiger Woods scandal a few days after it happened. I was neither disgusted by his behavior nor worried about the future of his career. And I certainly did not (do not) care about the state of his personal life.
Yes I watched Tiger Woods’ press conference on March 17. But I did not see him simply as an athlete seeking redemption. I saw a man with a carefully constructed public image who was desperately trying to keep his image in tact. (Whether or not this has worked is an entirely different issue.)
This fact is once again clear to me after watching the first post-scandal Nike advertisement featuring Woods. Here it is:
The voice you are hearing is Earl Woods, Tiger’s late father who passed away in 2006. “Tiger, I am more prone to be inquisitive,” he says. “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?” I don’t know when this voiceover is from but it is incredibly ominous and freaky.
Yet this strikes me as a genius ad campaign. Tiger and his managers are not shying away from addressing Tiger’s mistakes. But they are also not afraid to spin his mistakes by indicating that Woods’ personal problems are the result of his father’s death.
What do you think? Twisted? Brilliant? Sound off below.
@Cinefille 
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