Will the real Tiger Woods please stand up
From one nude front cover controversy to another, this time it’s Tiger Woods getting his kit off.
It’s a shoot that makes Woods look more like a prison inmate than the clean cut pro-athlete the world had come to know and love before learning of his numerous extramarital affairs.
The picture, taken in 2006 by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz, is the February cover of Vanity Fair, featuring never before seen photos of the golfer with an article that describes him as a “sex addict”.
It will be interesting to see how this latest media flurry will affect the already deeply tarnished Tiger Woods brand.
He has so far lost the commercial support of Accenture and telco firm AT & T; while PepsiCo’s Gatorade, Procter & Gamble’s Gillette brand and Swiss watch brand Tag Heuer are dramatically rolling back their marketing activities with him.
Nike is one brand which has maintained its support for Woods. And EA Sports has announced that it plans to release a new video game entitled Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online. It’s been reported that EA Sports has already bagged an estimated $670m from Woods-related games in the US, and it seems convinced that his fall from grace will not affect sales of the new game.
For me it’s all about context. Some brands choose personalities that help give them that edge. Think the rise, fall and then rise again of Kate Moss. And who would have imagined Iggy Pop fronting an ad for car insurance brand Swiftcover – although that’s just a little sad and wrong on every level.
Perhaps Woods’ management now needs to look to brands that are more reflective of the man we see before us on the Vanity Fair cover. How this will all pan out will only become clearer once he’s back in the game and if he continues to bag the trophies.
But will this latest Vanity Fair outing knock the Woods brand even further? If anything, I would argue that it will simply reaffirm his new brand positioning for when he’s finally ready to re-enter the game. And for Vanity Fair, copies of the magazine are undoubtedly already flying out the door.
Camille Alarcon
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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I used to think golf was boring as bat shit. Now I want to go out and belt the crap out of those little white balls.
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I’ve heard he’s re-branding himself as Cheetah Woods.
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Congratulations to Nike for its far-sighted support of Tiger. It’s going to pay off big time. Tiger is still the best golfer in the world and he just became a lot more interesting to a much larger audience.
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meh. golf smolf
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Game over – NO WAY! Game on… First, he is a phenomenal sports person bigger than the defines of the sport. Second – if it gets gritty in the Woods (the pics by Annie are a great yin to the Tiger yang), then so be it. Human failures and achievements are compelling beyond reason.
Savvy sponsors will see currency in the ‘New Woods’ – Tiger sponsored by brands that are a little more ‘street’ – sure, why not?
If Keith Richards can front for Louis Vuitton – then wooh ~ this is the most interesting thing to happen to golf since the game of ‘whack-#$ck’ was created.
Get back to the game Tiger… The game has just begun.
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how do you know he’s nude? does the cover flip down to show his bottom half or something like the old cleo centrefolds?
anyway, i can CLEARLY see a beanie, so its not a nude shot as far i can tell…
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Tiger is just a disgusting man with a mental problem and anyone that supports him is just as bad. Such a public person doing so many things wrong and using his wealth to abuse others. He doesn’t deserve respect, what he needs is for people and companies to stop supporting him. He has destroyed his family unit which shows that he has no respect or committment to his wife, children or anyone including those nasty girls that new he was married, throwing themselves at him for the sake of money. Don’t let him get away with it. He has certainly done a lot worse than Fev and look how we crucified him in the media. People of Australia, send a message to the multi-nationals and don’t buy from the companies that endorse him. Nike, I will never buy anything from your company again! Lucky Gillette dropped him, otherwise I would have hairy legs 🙂
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think it’s lame to use 2006 shots on a cover … there’d be an outcry if four year old shots were used of a female
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i heard there was no re-touching in these photo’s hahahahaha
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Elle is a loser
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Tbone – yeah, and I also heard Tiger did the shots in support of a charity for guys with a sexual dysfunction.
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tiger woods has flabby boobs.
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and he is clearly suckiung his stomach in – looks like he is in desperate need of a night as jail bait. that’ll tighten his stomach muscles at least……clench tiger clench (edited).
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tim have i ever told you how handsome you are?
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Do we really think that he will be at all bothered about losing his sponsors? He has enough money to play golf whenever he likes with his Hareem by his side. It’s probably a weight off his shoulders to not have to adhere to the sponsor’s conditions.
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golf is a game that requires amazing concentration and cool.
imagine the next time tiger steps up to tee off…with the whole world’s media in his face.
reckon he won’t choke?
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It’s in the hole !
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Have to agree with Em. Think Hugh Grant…remember the black prostitute saga? Or Paris Hilton’s sex tape. It moved otherwise bland-as-dishwater people into the “interesting category”. Their careers definitely weren’t over as a result of their actions. People like their heroes to have a few flaws. A bit of grit and imperfection goes a long way. Look at the most recent James Bond movies…he’s basically an alcoholic, sex-addicted pyschopath….people still watch it in droves. Just as they’ll now be focused on Woods. He just got even more bankable.
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