The smiling face of Tiger Woods has vanished from American television screens
during the commercial breaks, amid signs that the sponsors who helped to
turn the golfer into a billionaire are heading for the exit.
As the scandal showed no sign of abating, Joslyn James, a hardcore porn
actress from Las Vegas, yesterday became the latest addition to the list of
women alleged to have had affairs with Woods.
In another blow to the golfer’s reputation, a US congressman announced
yesterday that he was dropping his attempt to bestow America’s highest
civilian honour on Woods. Joe Baca had proposed a Bill in March to award
Woods the Congressional Gold Medal for promoting good sportsmanship and
breaking down barriers.
Mr Baca said that “in light of the recent developments surrounding Tiger Woods
and his family” he was abandoning the legislation.
Some sponsors that have stood by the golfer so far now also appear to be
tempering their public backing of him. Gatorade, the soft-drink brand, has
stopped its range of Tiger Focus energy drinks, while commercials featuring
Woods have disappeared from prime-time television and many cable channels
after reports of his extramarital affairs, according to Nielsen, the media
monitoring company.
It noted that the last occasion he appeared in a prime-time advertisement was
a 30-second spot for Gillette on November 29, two days after the Florida car
crash that exposed his problems. The world’s highest-earning sportsman was
also absent from last weekend’s NBC World Challenge golf tournament, which
typically features at least one Woods appearance at every commercial break.
“I would bet that most of his corporate partners do have morality clauses in
their contracts with him,” said William Chipps, of the IEG Sponsorship
Report, which tracks and analyses corporate sponsors.
“Generally it would be along the lines that ‘if you participate in behaviour
that we as a sponsor deem as inappropriate, we have a right to cancel’ . . .
There will be a lot of talk going on behind closed doors right now.
“This is a ride they just don’t want to be on right now, it wouldn’t surprise
me if they are dropping ads. As much as these companies originally partnered
with him to bask in the positive glow of Tiger Woods, they are just as quick
to move away when that association becomes negative.”
Woods’s public ratings have also dropped, affecting the likes of Gillette,
Nike, Tag Heuer, Accenture and AT&T, whose marketing campaigns have been
modelled on his clean performance both on and off the fairways. Some
retailers are reporting a reduction of up to 33 per cent in sales of their
Tiger Woods action figures.
According to the Davie Brown Index, used to gauge the ability of personalities
to influence shoppers, his ranking as the sixth-most-powerful celebrity
endorser has fallen in less than two weeks to 24th.
His “favourable” rating with the public, which was at 84 per cent in June, is
now at 60 per cent, according to a Gallup poll, which also found that 80 per
cent of people were “talking negatively” about Woods.
The father of two has not been seen in public since his car crash on November
27. The incident was said to have been precipitated by a row with his wife,
Elin Nordegren, 29, after she discovered his alleged affair with Rachel
Uchitel, a nightclub hostess, and pursued him from their home in Orlando
with a golf club.
He issued a statement on December 2 that said: “I have let my family down and
I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to
my values and the behaviour my family deserves.”
Ms Uchitel, 33, has repeatedly denied having an affair with Woods and in an
interview with OK magazine she rebuffed reports portraying her as a woman of
loose morals.
“I’m not a whore. I’m not a tramp. I’m not an escort. I’m not stupid or a
bimbo,” she said. “I made mistakes, but I’m not those things. I have very
good qualities.”
With no end to the kiss-and-tell stories, Woods could prove one of the most
challenging customers yet for the Hollywood legal company Lavely & Singer,
which is reported to have been hired by the golfer to defend his reputation.
The company has in the past represented Arnold Schwarzenegger, John
Travolta, Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Lopez.
But in some quarters the damage has been done. The scandal has hurt Woods’s
standing in the black community, where the world’s most successful
African-American sportsman has long been a cause of discomfort because of
his reluctance to identify himself as black. He chooses to use the term
“Cablinasian” — a blend of Caucasian, black, Indian and Asian.
The white women allegedly linked to the golfer have raised further questions.
Denene Millner, an author on black relationships, said that his preference
was not unusual among successful black sports stars.
“Why is it when they get to this level . . . they tend to go directly for the
nearest blonde?”she asked.