The Pathos of Tiger.

By now, a number of you have probably already seen the following Nike golf ad, which was released on the eve of Tiger Woods’ return to the Masters.

What are your thoughts? Is this poignant or distasteful?

Joel

Joel Anderson —blackink —  writes about sports, politics, crime, courts, and other issues far beyond his competence at BuzzFeed. He has worked at media outlets in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Atlanta and contributed to a number of publications, including The Root and The American Prospect, among many others.

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  • Ron

    My thought was from a marketing perspective it was pretty powerful. From a personal standpoint, I really hope he’s serious because using his dad’s likeness to reclaim his legacy is distasteful if he’s just going to retreat to his old ways in one manner or another.

    Nike does have experience with this, since of course, when Kobe came back they produced a famous ad of him working out and being motivated by all of the naysayers. That one was shot in black and white too.

    • blackink12

      Pretty much, you echoed my thoughts.

      Though I might note that even if he is serious, and he’s truly a sex addict, that he could have a slip-up or two along the way. Now I don’t know if either of those things are true, of course.

      But if so, yeah, I’m giving him the latitude to recover in the way that he and his doctors think is the best.

  • Wow.
    For me, it was powerful.
    I’ve been reading this whole Tiger mess from the POV of a mixed race Asian person dealing with family expectations, grief/loss, and personal desires (which may run counter to those family expectations) and this ad is sort of like his press conference, pt. 2.

    In that initial presser (the one that was so awkward and WTH?) it was clear to me that the main person he was ‘confessing’ to was his mother (and I’ve written before about Asian moms and what that means for us mixed kids); it was also an attempt to satisfactorily reintegrate his public and private selves: the private mixed race Asian son (and all the attendant baggage that comes with that) with the public ‘black’ golf celebrity. (I put black in scare quotes because the media has always read Tiger as Black which, to me, he is not. Dude is Asian, like I am.)

    This ad, by referencing his father (who was also part Asian) and concentrating on themes of personal responsibility, introspection and accountability – especially accountability to a parent – is another step in Tiger’s quest to re-gather the family traditions to himself. It’s about making the personal and private public. His celebrity is going to be about Tiger’s private metrics: how he stacks up to filial expectations, rather than ours.

    I dig it.

  • Fredric
  • syreeta

    Pathos or hathos? I feel both.

  • I vote bathos.

  • Val

    Kinda creepy.

  • Ro

    Invoking your dead father to sell golf clubs + repurposing said dead father’s voiceover to allude to a painful scandal that will undoubtedly yield lifelong trauma for your family = distasteful.

  • I found the spot manipulative and artificial. I’m usually okay with most ads that don’t try to efface their ad-ness, but this one clearly does. We would do well to remember that whatever emotions it stirs were thoroughly focus-grouped and calculated to facilitate consumption. This shouldn’t be too hard to bear in mind given Nike’s notorious ruthlessness in the pursuit of profit.

    • blackink12

      But you say that “notorious ruthlessness in the pursuit of profit” as if it’s unusual or, even, wrong. I don’t necessarily think it is. If we’re talking about making prepubescent children work in a sweatshop, yes. If we’re talking about manipulating weekend golfers into running out and buying some golf bags, no.

      I mean, what’s authentic about most advertisements? I, for one, almost always realize that I’m being manipulated through commercials and such. And it’s up to me whether that’s effective or not.

      Also, I guess what I want to know is: what could Nike and Tiger have done that the public-at-large would have accepted? At this point, I’m not sure they could have really done better.

      • But you say that “notorious ruthlessness in the pursuit of profit” as if it’s unusual or, even, wrong.

        My point wasn’t so much that it was wrong—I simply meant to point out the stark distance I perceived between the attempted heartfelt-ness of the ad and its ultimate consumptive goal. When I see athletes doing their thing with Nikes on, I know what’s being sold to me; but I’m having trouble trying to figure out what Woods’ intimate family moments have to do with selling athletic paraphernalia.

        I mean, what’s authentic about most advertisements?

        Authenticity in advertising consists in simply not being coy about what’s being sold, which most ads do just fine. This one’s making an unsuccessful (IMO) stab at emotional gravitas which strikes me as exploitative, but I’m totally cool with agreeing to disagree.

  • shani-o

    I thought it was pretty tacky. The last time we had an ad with Tiger and his dad was right after his father died. We all were sad and had the warm fuzzies. This is basically a sequel to that, and I think it’s creepy and gross. If Tiger is actually having an internal dialogue with his dad, that’s wonderful, but I don’t think we need to see it in a Nike commercial.

    • Exactly.

    • This is pretty much how I feel. I hope this ad is aired sparingly.

  • My gut reaction was that it’s manipulative and gratuitous. Nike is not who he’s hurt the most with his actions,its his wife and children. It seems quite paternalistic, as if to say “okay your apology wasn’t good enough so we’re going to bring you down to size by splicing in your dead father’s voice into a commercial to scold you as if you’re 13 instead of a grown man.” I’ve always said 90% of the people who came to his first press conference didn’t care about him personally, they just wanted to know when he was coming back so they could get paid.

  • blackink

    Real quick. Not to be condescending and all, but I love y’all for not letting this conversation devolve into a ridiculous thread about morality or interracial relationships. For real, we’ve got a wonderful community around here. Might as well remind y’all from time to time.

    • Wait, was that actually in the cards for a Tiger discussion? What the hell are you doing reading other blogs anyways!?

      • I know. I probably shouldn’t have admitted that here.

        But yeah, I’ve seen it happen. It gets ugly: “I bet he knows he’s black now!” or somesuch.

        • I dunno about the video, I felt like I was punched in the gut when I watched it (even though I was not sure it was his dad talking). Still, I find it pretty sad that THIS video shows me more of Tiger’s emotions than I have seen anywhere else.

          Having said that, I know NOTHING about the dude, to the point that maybe this video is the only way he can express his own sadness about his actions (which is selfish and bizarre, to be sure, but I am pretty sure a wunderkind athlete who got everything he ever wanted may have some emotional issues). I think it strange and creepy, but maybe he does not. When I cheat on my wife, I’ll have adidas make the video :) (kidding kidding).