The Creepy Nike-Tiger Woods Ad
[Guest post by DRJ]
Nike’s new Tiger Woods’ ad is getting a reaction:
“The ad aired Wednesday and Thursday on ESPN and the Golf Channel and is not scheduled to air again — at least in its current form. Woods stands expressionless, his only movement a few blinks. The ad is in black and white, adding to the sense of starkness.
Then comes the voice of Earl Woods, who died in 2006. (Nike confirmed to The Associated Press on Friday that the audio was from a 2004 documentary. In that documentary, the elder Woods compared his parenting style with that of his wife.)
“Tiger, I am more prone to be inquisitive, to promote discussion,” the father says. “I want to find out what your thinking was. I want to find out what your feelings are, and did you learn anything.” It ends with the trademark Nike swoosh.
“Well, that’ll make you wanna buy shoes, won’t it?” quipped ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Wednesday night. He followed with a parody in which Tiger was clobbered with a newspaper while his mother, voiced by an actress, berated him mercilessly.
Also mining the comic potential was Stephen Colbert, who remarked that Woods had proved he was “still the best at bringing his steely focus to the thing he loves: endorsing products.”
Some of the parodies (so far) are available here.
— DRJ
[…] Diary of a Mad Conservative: The most AWESOME athlete Patterico’s Pontifications: The Creepy Nike-Tiger Woods Ad and Brit Hume’s Advice to Tiger Woods and Is This Racism? and Yes, There Is Racism in America and […]
Uncomfortable New Tiger Woods Ad for Nike… Voiceover of His Late Father (video) « Frugal Café Blog Zone (a66042) — 4/9/2010 @ 7:27 pmI did not find the ad creepy. But, I remain a ginormous fan of Tiger, the golfer, and hope that Tiger, the man, is able to get things right with those that he needs to.
JD (3f3e6c) — 4/9/2010 @ 8:17 pmI have nothing against Tiger Woods. I wish him, his wife, and babies, all the best.
I think Nike sells overpriced Chinese-made crap.
nk (db4a41) — 4/9/2010 @ 8:30 pmSpeaking strictly as a cost-effective advertising vehicle, it’s a home run— or a hole in one— at punching through the clutter and getting a lot of free afterplay on other cable and web venues as well as general media buzz for a few days. And like the 1986 Apple spot, it will always be associated with Nike and Woods for better or worse. But in so far as content goes– it is very, very creepy indeed. And quite a role reversal: for in the spot, Nike is essentially selling viewers their own product endorser as a product himself, worthy of redemption at representing their corporate brand. Creepy all around. But the parodies are hilarious. ‘Just screw it.’ — super Nike logo, fade to black.
DCSCA (9d1bb3) — 4/9/2010 @ 8:32 pmSpeaking strictly as an idiot … there, fixed that for you.
JD (3f3e6c) — 4/9/2010 @ 8:34 pmHorrible commercial. So Tiger Woods has become a zombie,eh? And to make it extra creepy, the Madison Avenue whiz kids thought, Hey! Let’s have his dead father speak to the zombie!
If the ad’s intent was to present a re-introduction of Tiger with a clean slate and a two-step jump of I-screwed-up-let’s-move-on, it fell woefully short.
Perhaps far more effective: Camera closes in on Tiger – not the zombie – and with steadiness, passion and bluntness he acknowledges,reassures and looks to the future with a few words bringing it all home:
“Did I learn anything? Yes, I did. And, I am. And, I will.”
Cut away away to Nike swoosh.
Dana (1e5ad4) — 4/9/2010 @ 8:38 pmYes, I did. And, I am. And, I will.”
Argh. Comma abuse.
Dana (1e5ad4) — 4/9/2010 @ 8:40 pmI find it odd and inappropriate. It seems somebody was real desperate and real foolish to put a new ad out at the same time as his first competition.
He has humiliated his wife and his family, and should feel humiliated himself. It is an odd thing to be publically humiliated and willingly add to it for money.
Whoever dreamed up that ad and approved it should be fired. Tiger should ask his counselor(s) to slap him twice for doing it, and again if he even has a hint of doing something like that again.
About the only thing worse that I can think of would be to have an add that shows how quiet Nike shoes are when trying to slip out of the house at night (or back in) without being caught.
My 2 cents, anyway.
MD in Philly (59a3ad) — 4/9/2010 @ 8:40 pmDana’s copy would work quite well …
JD (3f3e6c) — 4/9/2010 @ 8:41 pmDana could do a better job at both the copy and the photos. They should have called her.
DRJ (daa62a) — 4/9/2010 @ 8:47 pmA friend of mine used to say he didn’t believe anything a person said until he had seen evidence of it for at least 6 months. I think Tiger needs to lie low and have his wife answer, “Yes he did” in the months ahead.
MD in Philly (59a3ad) — 4/9/2010 @ 8:47 pmIt is an odd thing to be publically humiliated and willingly add to it for money.
Comment by MD in Philly — 4/9/2010 @ 8:40pm
What strikes me as even odder or rather, more perverse, is that adultery can be marketed, exploited and profited upon. This market lacks neither participant and/or consumer.
Our culture’s crassness neatly reflected – infidels and vultures.
Dana (1e5ad4) — 4/9/2010 @ 8:50 pmSo much for the mea culpas. He is a shithead. Perhaps he finishes as the greatest golfer ever, but a shithead nonetheless.
matador (176445) — 4/9/2010 @ 8:53 pmI thought that was brilliant and I think he’s turning a corner.
happyfeet (c8caab) — 4/9/2010 @ 9:04 pmA guy with good hand-eye coordination and the other inbetween bodyparts going along. To play a game well which is played by anybody at any age and at any physical condition.
And companies selling trash to people who think if they buy their trash they’ll play as well as he does.
nk (db4a41) — 4/9/2010 @ 9:05 pmI hope though he doesn’t relinquish the new latitude he’s earned cause he paid a big price for it.
happyfeet (c8caab) — 4/9/2010 @ 9:05 pm@ JD @ DRJ, from your mouths to God’s ear…I could write this stuff in my sleep. Heh.
Daily Finance hits the nail on the head: Nike’s New Tiger Woods Ad: A Mercenary, Creepy Misfire
And then from ad exec with oodles of years of experience, Bob Garfield,
It’s possible that Earl Woods, had he been alive to witness Tiger’s current predicament, would have hauled out the old lessons about dealing with adversity. My guess is, though, what he’d have hauled out is a can of whoop-ass. If Nike is going to channel dead people, I’d suggest Mo Green complaining about Fredo Corleone: “He’s banging cocktail waitresses two at a time.”
Dana (1e5ad4) — 4/9/2010 @ 9:07 pm#6. The intent seems pretty clear: We’re Nike. We’re his ‘Daddy’ now. We’re scolding him. We’re questioning his judgement like his father would. Because we’re Nike. Because he is part of ‘our family’ now and still worthy of pitching our products (since we have hundreds of millions of dollars in product lines invested with him worldwide.) If WE forgive him. YOU should too. Because we’re Nike. It’s creepy from every POV.
DCSCA (9d1bb3) — 4/9/2010 @ 9:09 pmNike is such a garbage organization, at least from a marketing standpoint. I have hated their ads for a number of years. Anyone remember these gems:
1) When Tiger first burst on to the scene they ran that commercial where Tiger talks about how accomplished he is but laments that “there are still courses where I am not allowed to play,” insinuating that racism was keeping him out. Sports Illustrated, which takes a back-seat to nobody in terms of singing from the politically correct racial songbook, asked Tiger which exact courses those were. Tiger admitted that he had never been denied on a course on account of his race. SI then asked Nike’s marketing department if they knew of any courses that discriminated against minorities, and they replied that they hadn’t mean to be literal in the ad, they just wanted to be provocative. Yeah, nothing like making up a race crime in order to sell shoes.
2) During the 1996 Summer Olympics Nike aired an ad in which we were told that one “does not win the silver medal. You lose the gold.” I had a friend that was accomplished enough to have participated in two Olympics. He never won a medal, and I know that he would have been thrilled to get one, even a bronze. I wrote Nike to inquire if the ad people that wrote the ad and the marketing people that approved it had been gold medalists themselves, and were thus qualified to make such an arrogant statement. I never heard back.
3) When the WNBA started up Nike featured an ad with Lisa Leslie where she told us that she worked as hard as the men, hustled as much as the men, gave her heart and soul to the game like the men, and that someday maybe she could be paid the same as the men. I immediately wrote Nike to inquire if they were paying Ms. Leslie the same $50 million that they were paying Michael Jordan, seeing as they were so hell-bent on paycheck equality. Again, I never heard back.
And now this one takes the cake. They are so unbelievably crass, and Tiger is even more of a souless ass than I had realized to approve it. I will never buy a Nike shoe again, and as far as I am concerned Tiger can go away and not come back.
JVW (08e86a) — 4/9/2010 @ 9:10 pmAnd yet, remarkably, it is not nearly as creepy as the serial fabulist IMP.
JD (3f3e6c) — 4/9/2010 @ 9:13 pmthe bio-pic will be epic
happyfeet (c8caab) — 4/9/2010 @ 9:15 pmfor reals I thought he was a dirty whore but now I think he’s bringing sexy back to golf
ok pretend golf used to be sexy
happyfeet (c8caab) — 4/9/2010 @ 9:17 pmDon’t start in on the sport of kings, happyfeet 😉
JD (3f3e6c) — 4/9/2010 @ 9:21 pmI’m genuinely impressed. He’s transcended golf and celebrity to become this sort of epic naughty boy icon America hasn’t seen before… it’s new.
happyfeet (c8caab) — 4/9/2010 @ 9:28 pm#12– ????? What strikes me as even odder or rather, more perverse, is that adultery can be marketed, exploited and profited upon. This market lacks neither participant and/or consumer.
But it can be successfully implied:
What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
Had no idea Garfield ever hooked up with a shop. Always thought he did a critics column on the biz for AdAge and some TV/radio commentary on same. Observant fellow.
DCSCA (9d1bb3) — 4/9/2010 @ 9:28 pmit’s fueled by the people what condemn him, you see
neat trick.
happyfeet (c8caab) — 4/9/2010 @ 9:30 pmDCSCA, you’re correct. His bio:
Bob Garfield is a columnist, critic, essayist, pundit, international lecturer and obscure broadcast personality. He isn’t exactly a media whore, but he’s extremely promiscuous.
He’s transcended golf and celebrity to become this sort of epic naughty boy icon America hasn’t seen before… it’s new.
Oh the novelty of it all.
Dana (1e5ad4) — 4/9/2010 @ 9:38 pmhappyfeet:
I thought Tiger apologized for his “transgressions” so I can see how people would legitimately view that as Tiger condemning himself for his actions. Maybe saying “I’m sorry” in today’s world means “make it go away” instead of “I did something wrong and I’m sorry.”
DRJ (daa62a) — 4/9/2010 @ 9:52 pm“I’m sorry” means I’m bigger than what I did. I’m more than that.
happyfeet (c8caab) — 4/9/2010 @ 10:09 pmDon’t start in on the sport of kings, happyfeet.
JD, I think that sobriquet traditionally belongs to horse racing, not golf. Golf is, as someone (Mark Twain? Winston Churchill?) once said, “a good walk spoiled.”
JVW (08e86a) — 4/9/2010 @ 10:19 pmDRJ/Dana–
The interesting element of this is to watch and see how many other corporate brands eye this ploy for future use in some form as a strategy and means to redemption– like Toyota– if it is at all successful. The troubling aspect of this is how a corporation is making a hard pitch to sell us their product endorser, rather than their products, to be of value. Apparently, buying a fresh face isn’t immediately economically viable to Nike. It just shows how much they’ve got invested in him as a brand, not a person, worldwide.
DCSCA (9d1bb3) — 4/9/2010 @ 10:39 pmFeets – No guts, no glory. Now when a lot of people look at Tiger they think dirtbag and hoochies. I think Nike needed to have some hoochies in the ad and rif off some of their old slogans.
Tiger on a fairway looks over his shoulder at a bunch of hot hoochies around a swimming pool, the Nike Just Do It flashes across the screen, Tiger says I Did, wif that big grin of his.
No guts, no glory.
daleyrocks (1feed5) — 4/9/2010 @ 10:49 pm#19- JVW- Bravo! You can bet they got your letters and mused, ‘Hey, the ads are getting through the noise. We’re even getting negative feedback!” Consumers have all the power. Don’t use their products or any medium that takes their money to advertise them.
DCSCA (9d1bb3) — 4/9/2010 @ 10:51 pm#32– Yep. Going ‘bad boy’ would have worked, too. He may ‘just do it’ later in his career when he’s further down the leader board and the wife finally splits with bags of cash per the pre-nup.
DCSCA (9d1bb3) — 4/9/2010 @ 10:59 pmbut now Tiger’s made it through the wilderness I think.
Somehow he made it through.
happyfeet (c8caab) — 4/9/2010 @ 11:06 pmPuh-lleeeese,
pitchforksntorches (888cb1) — 4/10/2010 @ 3:23 amEnough. You were foolish enough to make an over-priced celebrity matter in your life and-GASP- you were disappointed to find out he is human.
In fact, the celebrity culture is what got Obambi into the WH and the country into the mess we are in now.
A clown is funny. A great Clown is really funny. But would you let one take care of your child?
Something weird is going on here. Disco Stu (DCSCA) actually got it right, for a change.
Instead of “Just Do It”, Nike is saying, “Just Forgive Him”.
And I have. The athlete is an athlete; there is no requirement, either social or moral, for him or her to be a “role model”. Tiger is an extremely talented athlete whose private failings have become fodder for public scrutiny and derision. To that, I say “So?”
I grew up watching a man named Orenthal James Simpson do incredible things on the gridiron. Does the (alleged, but almost certain) fact that — 20 years later — he killed his ex-wife mean that I didn’t really see him become the greatest rusher in NFL history since Jim Brown, of a decade before?
I watched Stevie Wonder at Obama’s coronation in Denver, playing a gooey, sickly, vapid sycophantic love poem to Teh One. Do I now consider “Superstition” & “I Wish” to be tainted by the stain of his partisan hackwork? Hey! I was still living in AZ when he came to lend himself to a strongarm attempt to make us adopt the MLK holiday. He was wrong to say that freedom of choice did not apply in that matter, but I didn’t start to deny his accomplishments as a result.
Icy Texan (665e90) — 4/10/2010 @ 4:21 am3) When the WNBA started up Nike featured an ad with Lisa Leslie where she told us that she worked as hard as the men, hustled as much as the men, gave her heart and soul to the game like the men, and that someday maybe she could be paid the same as the men. I immediately wrote Nike to inquire if they were paying Ms. Leslie the same $50 million that they were paying Michael Jordan, seeing as they were so hell-bent on paycheck equality. Again, I never heard back. – Comment by JVW
Thank you for refreshing our memory. I usually let most ads go by (except the Geico Gecko and the E-Trade babies). I do remember this ad and think your response was brilliant. At the time I thought, “And when you can draw a crowd like a man, you’ll be paid like a man.”
I sort of thought of polo as the sport of kings, as the only one I can name who plays it is Prince Charles.
Icy Texan, I agree with your comments on Tiger as an athlete, and your perspective on putting a person’s accomplishment in perspective. But a person doesn’t have to want to be a role model to be one. We all are role models to some population, be it a few or millions, and we can be a role model for good or bad. The ad execs who put this ad on are being role models as well, whther they think it or not.
Tiger on a fairway looks over his shoulder at a bunch of hot hoochies around a swimming pool, the Nike Just Do It flashes across the screen, Tiger says I Did, wif that big grin of his. – Comment by daleyrocks
I wonder if Leno or Letterman have picked up on that perspective yet. More reason for a thinking person and a thinking manager to say, “Just stay out of the news.”
(Off topic, shameless plug warning). Last comment, which I think has nothing to do with Nike. Frozen Four finals tonight, 7 PM, ESPN, Wisconsin Badgers against Boston College. Midwest Hockey vs. Northeast Hockey; Michigan and OSU like each other more than this mix. I will be there in a Red Wisconsin sweat shirt. Look for me, I should be the only one. 😉
MD in Philly (59a3ad) — 4/10/2010 @ 5:43 amChristopher Reeve played until his accident that eventually killed him. I’ll root for the Badgers for you… have a great time! 🙂
Stashiu3 (44da70) — 4/10/2010 @ 6:12 amThank you, Stashiu3.
If anyone asks, Midwest college hockey (the WesternCHA) is the toughest, because we have to play the North Dakota Fighting Sioux. One year when we played there someone threw a dead badger out onto the ice. The announcer freaked, but I thought it was pretty clever, except for needing to kill the badger first.
MD in Philly (59a3ad) — 4/10/2010 @ 6:27 am#40 MD in Philly:
I think it would have been a lot less clever to try and sneak in a live badger to throw on the ice…
EW1(SG) (edc268) — 4/10/2010 @ 7:16 amComment by EW1(SG)
I was thinking from the point of view of the badger. From the point of the ND fans, you are likely correct.
A friend told me he was driving down a country road one night in his big pickup when his headlights illuminated a badger in the middle of the road snarling at him, refusing passage.
Had they been able to pull it off, it might have been very intertaining watching the badger and the Zamboni face off.
MD in Philly (59a3ad) — 4/10/2010 @ 7:52 amIcy Texan (4:21 am), I don’t think this is a matter of forgiveness, or Tiger-worship, as much as it is a matter of simple propriety and decency. Once upon a time, when you were caught red-handed doing something well beyond social mores there was a price to pay. You were shunned by polite society. You were not considered to be trustworthy or worth emulating. Sure, after some period of time — but certainly longer than five months — you would be allowed to slowly regain credibility and rehabilitate your image, but it would take a considerable effort and a genuine display of remorse.
To me, if Tiger Woods says “use this golf equipment” then he has a great deal of credibility because I know he is a great golfer and an assume that he has high standards. The same can even be extended to whatever sports drink or exercise equipment he is shilling. When he says “buy a Buick” or “use an American Express card” then the only credibility that he has for those items is in having us believe that he is an honest and decent guy with high standards, and that he won’t steer us wrong. When we find out, then, that he cheats on his wife with porn stars, nightclub hostesses, and pancake house waitresses, it calls into question his honesty and his integrity. No longer should anyone believe that Tiger will necessarily lead you to a quality product.
And the coup disgrace (OK, bad pun) is this highly manipulative Nike ad whose message seems to be “Remember that Tiger’s dad is dead; now don’t you feel sorry for him and want to forgive him?” It is so indicative of our times that Tiger and his marketing brain-trust assume that he can be given almost immediate absolution. A more decent and humble guy would have laid low from a marketing standpoint for a more discrete interval (maybe a year) and then come back with a far less self-pitying campaign. For all of his faults, it seems that Kobe Bryant and his marketing team played this one far better than Tiger has.
JVW (08e86a) — 4/10/2010 @ 9:50 amIts always interesting to see the public’s need to “forgive” a professional athlete for their indiscretions. It would indicate they’ve invested a whole lot more of themselves into the one-sided relationship than just admiring the athletic feats of the individual.
Were they married to him? Were they dating? Were they soul mates with a commitment to fidelity? No, and yet it’s taken personally.
But they are just fans, he is just an athlete. Yet because they invested so much of themselves into the somewhat one-sided relationship, there were the *very personal responses of disappointment, hurt, and violation that require forgiveness. Doesn’t that seem skewed? Because fans chose to put him on a pedestal in every way, they get personally hurt?
*This doesn’t include the sympathy and even empathy the public has for the very real personal hurt that Elin and their children experienced by his bad behavior.
Dana (1e5ad4) — 4/10/2010 @ 10:18 amDana, while it is true that fans largely chose to put Tiger on a pedestal, let’s not overlook the degree to which he was very carefully marketed by his corporate sponsors. Recall if you will that Sports Illustrated named him “Sportsman of the Year” before he had even won his first professional tournament. It was the only time in the magazine’s history that someone was given that particular honor on spec, as it were. In their infamous article on Tiger in that issue, titled “The Chosen One,” they quoted his late father as predicting that Tiger would bring healing to the world. While that can be dismissed as the ravings of an emotionally-involved parent, there is no doubt that Tiger’s marketing machine took up this crusade and that the idea of Tiger as someone greater than it all was always at the heart of their campaigns. Can it be any wonder that a nation which fell so deeply in love with Barack Obama would do the same for Tiger Woods, when much the same marketing campaign was utilized?
JVW (08e86a) — 4/10/2010 @ 10:33 amTiger admitted that he had never been denied on a course on account of his race. SI then asked Nike’s marketing department if they knew of any courses that discriminated against minorities, and they replied that they hadn’t mean to be literal in the ad.
I immediately wrote Nike to inquire if they were paying Ms. Leslie the same $50 million that they were paying Michael Jordan, seeing as they were so hell-bent on paycheck equality.
Comment by JVW — 4/9/2010 @ 9:10 pm
Surprise, surprise. Nike undoubtedly is greatly influenced by the mindset of a [drum roll, please] limousine liberal. As such, the religion of enviromentalism — and the way humans treat mother Earth — is far, far more important than the value of honorable behavior, particular if it might get in the way of self-esteem, self-control and feel-good hugs.
Newsmeat.com:
Campaign Contributions
PARKER, MARK, PORTLAND, OR 97221
NIKE/CEO & PRESIDENT
SMITH, GORDON HAROLD (R)
Senate – OR
FRIENDS OF GORDON SMITH $2,300
general 06/30/08
PARKER, MARK, PORTLAND, OR 97221
NIKE/PRESIDENT AND CEO
WYDEN, RONALD LEE (D)
Senate – OR
WYDEN FOR SENATE $1,500
primary 06/03/08
Parker, Mark, Portland, OR 97221
Nike/Sportswear Executive
BLUMENAUER, EARL (D)
House (OR 03)
BLUMENAUER CENTURY FUND $1,000
primary 05/10/06
Parker, Mark, Beaverton, OR 97005
NIKE INC./President of NIKE Brand
FEDERAL POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (NIKE FEDERAL PAC) $5,000
primary 03/04/04
PARKER, MARK, PORTLAND, OR 97221, NIKE INC
FURSE, ELIZABETH (D)
Mark (411533) — 4/10/2010 @ 11:14 amHouse (OR 01)
ELIZABETH FURSE FOR CONGRESS $1,000
primary 05/21/96
@ JVW,
Can it be any wonder that a nation which fell so deeply in love with Barack Obama would do the same for Tiger Woods, when much the same marketing campaign was utilized?
I understand what you’re saying but again, this speaks to the gullible neediness of the public who buy the hype and willingly put very fallible mortal men on pedestals. And some go further to where it becomes a *personal*, albeit one-sided, relationship.
Marketing machines have an easier sell when the public lowers the bar on what they’re willing to buy into.
Whether Obama or Tiger, it speaks more to the public’s emotional need. And it’s a guarantee for inevitable disappointment because mere men fall all the time, whether on massively huge scales or lesser ones.
Dana (1e5ad4) — 4/10/2010 @ 1:55 pm“Marketing machines have an easier sell when the public lowers the bar on what they’re willing to buy into.”
Dana – True fact. Men only go to Hooters for the wings.
daleyrocks (1feed5) — 4/10/2010 @ 2:07 pmDisgusting concept from beginning to end, both from Woods and Nike.
JEA (b0e42f) — 4/10/2010 @ 3:57 pmwas it disgusting? Really? In our little country of 2010, sad and desperate and debauched, you find a Tiger Woods ad disgusting?
Buckle up.
happyfeet (c8caab) — 4/10/2010 @ 4:11 pmTiger is a pretty emotional fellow for someone who presents himself as being so in control.
DRJ (daa62a) — 4/10/2010 @ 4:15 pmit’s Tiger 2.0… he’s nuanced.
happyfeet (c8caab) — 4/10/2010 @ 4:17 pmComments #38-42,
Stashiu3, and any others, my apologies for a less than enjoyable game. If anyone was more “flat” than the Wisconsin team, it was the Wisconsin fans, who seemed to be waiting for the team to do something before they would cheer…and they’re still waiting. In spite of a bad cold affecting my voice, mine was by far the one most frequently heard. So, if they ever showed a view of one lone idiot trying to get the crowd to chant “Let’s Go Red!”, it was probably me. (Maybe that’s “too last century”.)
It did set a record for the largest crowd to watch an indoor ice hockey game at 37,592. Perhaps it was because the bratwurst they sold at the stadium was not from Wisconsin.
MD in Philly (ddde18) — 4/10/2010 @ 9:18 pm[…] Diary of a Mad Conservative: The most AWESOME athlete Patterico’s Pontifications: The Creepy Nike-Tiger Woods Ad and Brit Hume’s Advice to Tiger Woods and Is This Racism? and Yes, There Is Racism in America and […]
Tiger Woods & Elin… Is Divorce Imminent? « Frugal Café Blog Zone (a66042) — 4/13/2010 @ 7:10 pm