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Transgressions

December 2, 2009 by · Comments Off on Transgressions 

tiger-sad-faceTransgressions:On Monday, Tag Heuer and Accenture — two companies Tiger Woods endorses —  ran ads in The USA Today and the Wall Street Journal, respectively. At the time, Woods had taken out a fire hydrant and a tree with his 2009 Cadillac Escalade, and rumors that he had an affair were just that.

Today, Tiger announced on his web site that “I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart.” Putting aside the personal implications, the admission tarnishes Woods’ well-crafted image in the short term. Still, it looks as if there won’t be any lasting damage to his reputation, at least as a spokesperson.

Reuters reports “Several sponsors, who collectively pay Woods about $100 million a year to tout their products and services, said later on Wednesday their relationships would not change with one of the most recognized athletes in the world.” Those sponsors include: Electronic Sports, TLC Vision Corp., NetJets, Gatorade and Gillette.

CNBC.com’s Darren Rovell talked to SportsBYBrooks.com about Woods’ endorsement situation.

In the case of Nike, Rovell noted the remarkable show of support Woods was getting, observing that when the Kobe Bryant-Colorado situation first hit, “it was all quiet in western Oregon (Nike HQ). … All I know is Nike has issued three statements in support of Tiger and I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley have had off-court issues that at times overshadowed their on-court accomplishments. Both remain popular with fans, and both continue to have lucrative endorsement deals. In ten years the focus will again be on Tiger, golf phenomenon, and the affair might be nothing more than a footnote. Unfortunately, Woods doesn’t have a time machine.

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