As companies have disassociated themselves with Tiger Woods since he apologized for his "transgressions," inevitably the decision to end their respective corporate affiliations with Woods has been a result of diligence and concern over whether the company's image would be scarred by a man who has lost so much public face.
While the true negative value of a continued relationship with Woods is likely to remain contested, corporations can hardly be criticized for their concern over a potential public relations disaster.
Thogh it would seem that corporations would be reluctant to drop Woods, even amidst his transgressions, because of his former reputation and status as the world's most popular figure, several companies have ran away from him faster than Democrats left Joe Lieberman.
Both Accenture and AT&T ended their relationships, Tag Heuer dropped its US Woods campaign; Gillette said it would downscale Tiger's presence; Gatorade discontinued its Tiger Woods drink, but stated that the company had made the decision before the car accident; General Motors said Tiger will no longer loan vehicles to Tiger for free; and, Golf Digest suspended Tiger's monthly column.
Yet, some companies have formally expressed statements of support for Tiger. Upper Deck said it "Stands by Tiger Woods;" NetJets is "proud to have him involved with NetJets;" TLC Vision said their "relationship with him continues without change;" and Nike said Tiger and his family "have Nike's full support."
Tiger's other significant endorsement, EA SPORTS -- maker of the internationally popular Tiger Woods PGA TOUR video game -- has faced a whirlwind of media coverage over the last 48 hours as a leaked survey seems to symbolize doubt of their future relationship.
Since 1998, the Tiger Woods PGA TOUR video game, which is released in new version every year, has been offered for PC, PlayStation, Game Boy, PlayStation 2, XBox, GameCube, Mac OS, Nintendo DS, XBOX 360, PSP, Wii, PlayStation 3, and the iPhone. The game has become the quintessential golf video game for all gamers -- it's yearly anticipation is perhaps only rivaled by the Madden football series of video games.
On December 2, EA SPORTS, in their original statement of support, stated: "Our relationship with Tiger for more than a decade remains unchanged. We respect Tiger's privacy, we wish him a fast recovery and we look forward to seeing him back on the golf course."
On December 17, an EA SPORTS spokesperson stated: "We respect that this is a very difficult,and private situation for Tiger and his family. At this time, the strategy for our Tiger Woods PGA Tour business remains unchanged."
On January 4, President of EA SPORTS Pete Moore wrote in his blog: "Our relationship with Tiger has always been rooted in golf. We didn't form a relationship with him so that he could act as an arm's length endorser. Far from it. We chose to partner with Tiger in 1997 because we saw him as the world's best, most talented and exciting golfer." Moore announced that EA SPORTS would continue with the new Tiger WOODAS PGA TOUR Online game.
Tuesday evening, it was revealed that Greenfield Online (via Kotaku) released a survey with the following two questions:
"EA SPORTS makes a Tiger Woods video game. Has the controversy made your impressions of EA SPORTS more or less favorable, or has it had no impact?"
"Has the controversy made you more or less likely to buy a Tiger Woods related video game in the future?"
Where many corporations may cite the immorality of Tiger Woods, specifically with reference to him as a role model for children, as rationale for terminating their relationship with him, EA SPORTS stands unique in the breadth of impact that the company alone has on children. Video games are the dominating hobby of today's generation - appropriate or not. While many adults do play video games, particular EA SPORTS' line of sports games, the dominating constituency for EA SPORTS is clearly children.
Parents buy Tiger Woods PGA TOUR golf.
Parents buy Tiger Woods PGA TOUR golf.
With this, it may be that EA SPORTS does "need" a morally clean spokesperson. While EA Sports does not make and distribute any other video games with a title name featuring an athlete, it's most popular games, Madden and NBA Live, feature athletes on their covers.
The Madden series of football games, since 2001 when it began using NFL players on its cover, has featured: Eddie George (2001), Daunte Culpepper (2002), Marshall Faulk (2003), Michael Vick (2004), Ray Lewis (2005), Donovan McNabb (2006), Shaun Alexander (2007), Vince Young (2008), Brett Favre (2009), and Troy Polamalu and Larry Fitzgerald (2010).
In 2005, Daunte Culpepper wash charged with indecent conduct, disorderly conduct, and lewd or lascivious conduct for the sex boat cruise scandal; in early 2004, two men were arrested for distributing marijuana in Michael Vick's car, in Oct. 2004 security cameras showed members of Vick's entourage taking a watch from an airport security screener, in 2005 a woman filed a civil suit against Vick claiming that she had contracted herpes from Vick, and in 2007 Vick was charged for operating an interstate dog fighting venture; in 1996 Brett Favre went into treatment and rehabilitation for an addiction to vicodin; and, in 2008, the mother of Larry Fitzgerald's child filed for an won an order of protection against Fitzgerald citing that she had been a victim of domestic abuse.
Since 1996, NBA Live has featured: Shaquille O'Neal (1996), Mitch Richmond (1997), Tim Hardaway (1998), Antoine Walker (1999), Tim Duncan (2000), Kevin Garnett (2001), Steve Francis (2002), Jason Kidd (2003), Vince Carter (2004), Carmelo Anthony (2005), Dwayne Wade (2006), Tracy McGrady (2007), Gilbert Arenas (2008), Tony Parker (2009), and Dwight Howard (2010).
In 2007, Tim Hardaway publicly made homophobic comments; in Jan. 2009 Antoine Walker was arrested for suspicion of drunk driving and again arrested in July 2009 for writing bad checks; in 2000, before Jason Kidd was on a cover, he was arrested and pleated guilty to a domestic abuse charge for ASSAULTING his wife; in 2004, Carmelo Anthony was cirted for marijuana posession, although his friend later signed an affidavit taking responsibility for the drugs, later in the same year he appeared in a documentary entitled "Stop Snitchin'" which showcased a culture of refusal to talk with police authorities, in 2006, Anthony's friend was cited for marijuana posession and three traffic violations in Anthony's vehicle, in 2008 Melo was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence; and Gilbert Arenas is currently suspended over a gun controversy.
This is not presented as a condemnation of athletes, but rather as precedent for EA SPORTS to maintain its relationship; although none of the aforementioned athletes are showcased with the same prominence in their respective games as Woods is in his.
It seems EA SPORTS has the following options:
1) Drop the "Tiger Woods" in the video game's name.
2) Drop the "Tiger Woods" in the name and remove his prominence throughout the game.
3) Continue the series as before.
A prevailing issue here is that Woods has not been featured in a television commercial or "new" advertisement since the car accident; EA SPORTS is in the process of widely distributing its new Tiger Woods video game. EA SPORTS is not just a player in today's golf video game market; their Tiger Woods PGA TOUR video game is THE golf video game market.
Obviously, EA SPORTS is asking themselves whether Tiger's transgressions are going to hurt the game's sales and whether a continued relationship with Tiger is going to hurt EA SPORTS' general sales?
I'm reluctant to say that EA SPORTS can simply offer a "PGA TOUR" video game, but, just the same, they already dominate the market and clearly can advertise the game as no different without the Tiger Woods affiliation. Yet, the culture clearly revolves around "the new T.Woods" video game.
My Recommendation:
I'd suggest that EA SPORTS maintains their affiliation with Tiger, but eliminates any reference to the game allowing users to walk in Tiger's shoes. Separate the idea of playing as Tiger Woods from being Tiger Woods. Further, while commercials/advertisements should include Tiger, EA SPORTS should explore showcasing multiple players on the cover as well as in its ads.
Photo(s): Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 2010, Madden 2004, NBA Live 2003,
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