I am not alone in saying that I like things that are compelling. I like stories that get people interested and get people going on different levels. Take a few examples from last night’s news. The story of the man who tried to light a cigarette on a plane is pretty easy – everyone feels the same way about it (for the most part.)
“He is an idiot, he is a moron, smokers are gross, can’t believe the overreaction, can’t blame them for the overreaction, next story please.” That one is simple. Then you get a story like the Gov. of VA saying we should honor Confederacy, which also is, for the most part, a simple story with simple reactions, even if you fall on different sides, “we should honor them, but honoring them doesn’t recognize slavery, it is insensitive, no it isn’t, it’s a part of our history, etc.”
They can spend hours talking and debating stories like these, and we all do and will, but I find myself looking at the story, quickly forming an opinion, and moving on mentally.
Now the Tiger Woods Nike commercial, which you can find so easily anywhere on the internet at this point, is really fascinating to me.
I know Tiger is a worldwide figure and everyone knew him before the scandal, but being unemployed last year and looking forward to Tiger Thursday’s more than any other day of the week last year really got me fascinated with him as an athlete, and I feel like to a certain extent I locked into him and his mentality.
Throughout that process, I saw Tiger not as a human – Tiger is a marketing vehicle primarily, that is his identity, beyond being a golfer and a champion, I see Tiger as a commodity, and he unfortunately is valued by all in that same way. Second to his financial worth is his astounding accomplishment on the golf course. It is funny that yesterday he fittingly won his 2009 Player of the Year award, which he obviously deserved.
Coming off of injury, his athleticism was challenged to a point that non-golfers and naysayers won’t, and don’t want to, understand. Golf may not be an aerobic sport, but to generate the power and precision he does, his muscles and muscle memory have to be as sharp as any athletes, doing any activity. To lose that edge through and injury, refind it, fine tune it, and win championship tourneys, isn’t easy.
So now we are in a place where we are pretty much “okay” with the scandals – there is nothing about him that we are surprised by – no text messages that we read or voicemails we hear that surprise us anymore. And that is because we honestly see him as a marketing tool and as an extension of a brand. He isn’t a human figure who is incredibly damaged, he is purely a commodity whose value is back on the rise, and Nike is taking full advantage of it.
Do I fault Nike? Not in the least. What is their alternative? They have shareholders, they are beholden to making money, and everyone who is involved in this game knows it. The personal responsibility in reaction to Nike and their use of Tiger is something that consumers, for one reason or another, cannot understand.
You, person out there who may or may not wear Nike Golf products, hit Nike balls, use Tiger clubs, you are the only person who can make any difference in this Tiger Woods world of golf. I would watch the Masters this weekend with or without Tiger, that is something I cannot control. Ratings will be high, but I am not going to punish myself because I think Tiger is a completely remarkable jackass.
But you, who buys a Nike golf ball or purchases a new Nike hybrid to hit off the fairway, you’re the only one who can react to their use of Tiger in commercials, and this new commercial is a wonderful example of how nobody alive, including Tiger himself, really is willing to take Tiger to task for what he did.
What am I condoning in terms of Tiger-shunning? Well, first, I think that the only real way to punish him is not by booing him from afar, or bashing him in a blog. The real way to punish him is to stop buying Gatorade, stop buying Tiger related Nike products, find out what will hurt him the most in the wallet and go after it.
Then again, are you responsible for caring? Not really. You don’t have to care, but I swear to God if I hear you talk about the new Tiger commercial and say anything negative about it – then I see you drinking Gatorade with Tiger on the label, I’ll sock your nose.
Sports are a very enjoyable disease – they are the part of the Behind the Music shows where it looked like fun to be part of the band that was hopelessly devoted to Cocaine, Groupies and 100mph Lifestyle. That is what we love about sports, wild, reckless love and unconditional fervor about our favorite teams and players.
But we have a responsibility, and it isn’t a serious one, but as sports fans we have to hold athletes accountable, if we really want them to be accountable.
My opinion of this new commercial is really that it is an extension of Tiger’s egotistical world in which he will learn nothing, change nothing, be the same person, only this time he’ll do it more quietly. He is a maniac. He is a sex-driven psychopath who can do something in sports I admire to a point where it is irrational. I want to be able to hit a golf ball like him more than anything I can think of. But I think he is a horror to mankind in terms of personality. He is everything bad about athletes, ego, and the cult of celebrity.
His dead father, who would have been horrified and embarrassed by the 2009/2010 Tiger, is forced onto his TV advertisements to sell nothing in particular but Tiger the brand – think about doing that to someone you really love? Imagine taking the worst thing you have ever done in your life, making that thing public, and taking an out of context voice over of your deceased Grandmother who was a saint, and making it sound like she not only forgives you for what you did, but wants you to get rich from it.
That is what Tiger is doing here.
So now it gets back to personal responsibility – a “what can I do about it” kind of reaction.
Well, I don’t really know aside from boycotting his products and specifically Nike Golf. If you aren’t a golfer, just be conscious of what he is promoting and staying away from it. Honestly, that is all you can do, it’s your choice. Would you normally watch the Masters? If the answer is no, then don’t watch this weekend. Would you buy Sports Illustrated in an airport if Tiger wasn’t going to be on the cover after winning this upcoming Sunday? Then don’t buy it now.
The perception of Tiger in the public is the real measurement of how accountable we want to hold him for his actions. Think about where you want to fall on this matrix, the choice is yours, but make sure the way you talk about Tiger over the next week, 3 months, 6 months, and forever until we see genuine change (far from this ad) is consistent with where you plot yourself on this graph. That's where you have to pick up the slack in Moral Responsibility b/c God knows Tiger isn't going to pull his weight.
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