Midnight Oil Writing

OK, it’s pretty clear Tiger Woods is a womanizer and a serial cheater.  In my opinion, he’s not husband material, and Elin should cut him loose.  As someone once said to me, if they cheat once, they’ll cheat again.

Truth is, lots of guys and gals cheat on their partners.  Few lose their jobs over it.  Few have the public outing Tiger did.  Most just keep on doing what they do.

We’ve all heard about many of Tiger’s sponsors dropping him; Gatorade being the latest.  Most likely they’ve all invoked the morality clause in most celebrity endorsement contracts.  They do have every right to do so.

But if I were the VP of marketing of [insert Tiger sponsor here], I’d really think about my target audience.  Sure, the general public thinks Tiger’s a creep.  But is your audience the general public?

As unpopular as it may be, there is likely a group of people who admire Tiger’s ease at having relations with multiple women.  After all, it seems his entanglements went on for quite a while. 

At the risk of angering some, I’ll say it plainly.  How many young men, 17 – 30, really think badly of Tiger after all his bad publicity?  How many of them admire him, but it’s not politically correct to say so?

Sponsoring an athlete is a marketing tactic to generate and maintain more sales.  It’s about money.   Image as well, but if the campaign doesn’t generate money, it doesn’t matter what image is projected. 

To some, the revelations about Tiger enhance his image, not detract from it. 

If I was a sponsor of Tiger and my target audience was young men 17 – 30, I’d think twice before bowing to political correctness.