The ethics of Tiger advertising
There's been a lot of talk about the recent Tiger Woods tvc for Nike.
To be honest I don't really care about Tiger Woods or the ad.
What troubles me is the voiceover.
Publicity surrounding the ad says it's Tiger's father asking him questions.
It's not. Well it is sorta. But it's not.
The voiceover is Tiger's dad. But it's from an interview a couple of years old and he is talking about his estranged wife.
I don't know about you but I find that kind of troubling.
Of course it's merely my opinion but the idea of taking something deeply personal out of context and using it to promote a brand is just plain wrong.
And as for trying to pass off that voice footage as a father questioning his son - surely that's misleading advertising?
If you haven't seen the ad click here to take a look.
posted by Stan Lee at 6:34 am
5 Comments:
I have to say stan, this was the toughest brief on the planet this year and despite the appropriation of his dead father's voice (admittedly taken out of context) I think they've done pretty well.
It makes me think two things:
1) Tiger is human. He knows lots of people hate him and he knows his dad would have been disappointed too. He's exhausted and sorry.
2) Good on Nike for sticking by him through all of this when so many other sponsors dropped him like bad garbage.
Although I'm an adidias man at heart, I'll give Nike a break on this one - he was talking about his estranged ex-wife but I do believe those would be similar words he would have spoken to tiger.
Again. Tough brief.
Thanx for your very considered comment Mike. Much appreciated.
Quoting a dead man out of context to sell golf balls and equipment??!
Tough brief yes but wrong answer.
I'm with Slim, 100%. It's tacky. I'll go one step further: "Quoting a dead man out of context and exploiting infidelities in a marriage to sell golf balls and equipment??!" GTF outta here...
I really hate this ad.
I think the timing was almost as inappropriate as the spot itself. Nike should have let Tiger play the Masters without having the added distraction of a controversial ad focusing on issues immaterial and irrelevant to golf and golf equipment. Personally, I'm shocked Tiger approved the ad.
The ad seems like one of two things to me. 1) An attempt by Nike to exploit the sensationalism and get people talking (which it did, even if negatively so), or 2) Nike's initial attempt at integrating Tiger ads back into the mix by acknowledging the situation. Perhaps Nike felt they couldn't run another ad without first addressing Tiger's infidelities.
I don't give a rip about Tiger's immoralities, personal reflections and "what he learned." He's an athlete. Who said athletes have to be role models??? The guy is an awesome golfer who makes watching televised golf a lot more interesting.
Also, think about this: He only slept with...what, 12 or 15 gals over many years. Think about all the gals he turned down. He's nowhere near as bad as Magic Johnson and Wilt Chamberlain who both slept with THOUSANDS of women.
For a very funny Homer Simpson remix of this ad check out One Eye Squint - http://bit.ly/d6uwOb
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