A couple of months ago, people were "shocked" and "outraged" at the news that he hadn't been exactly faithful to his wife. His career was over, the media claimed. He was ruined. He'd never putt again.
Now he seems to be getting his career back on track, does it not all seem a bit orchestrated? I remember talking in class around the time the story came out about Ashley and Cheryl Cole about how this kind of PR can be organised and work in the celebrities favour. As predicted, girly mags are now reporting the latest about Cheryl's new found confidence and string of hunky dates, Ashley's career doesn't seem too hurt, and now Tiger's back on the scene. Coincidence...?
I'll never truly know if it was the work of crafty PR or simply a case of getting caught out, but I do know that there are people who are employed to hide cases like this from the media, and they usually do their job well. So why did these specific cases come to light?
Interestingly, the news of Tiger's return made the headlines on RTE. In the past, stories like this were confined usually only to red tops and magazines.
It just made me think how what is considered important news has changed, and how even established media organisations have changed to facilitate the "sensationalist" news stories.
RP
In my opinion, the decision for Tiger Woods to take a five month break from golf, and then to announce his return in time for the Masters in Augusta, is not a PR decision and is based on Woods's own professional feelings towards the game.
ReplyDeleteThere are key differences between the Cheryl Cole story and this one. Cheryl Cole never jeopardised her careeer by announcing her divorce when she did. In Tiger's case, he took a monumental risk by leaving the sport for five months, missing some World Golf Championship events in the process, as well as several other big tournaments which, had other players taken advantage of, could have seen him drop to number two in the world for the first time in almost five years.
Tiger has reached a point in his career where the only goal left to accomplish is to surpass Jack Nicklaus's record of 18 major titles, which would instantly leave him regarded as the greatest player to pick up a golf club. For a natural born winner, it would be inconceivable to risk his reputation as the number one golfer in the world, in place of media hype.
I don't see why the news of Tiger's first tv advertisement since the scandal is not newsworthy though. Tiger has been arguabley the most iconic and recognisable sportsman of his generation, and was dropped by some of his advertisers after his scandal, so I think his new Nike ad is a landmark moment in the career of Tiger Woods, part 2
NT
I'm not arguing with you - you're probably right. But it's just my view as a non sports fan towards the whole thing - personally I don't see why him appearing in an ad is a big deal, nor what he gets upto behind closed doors is either.
ReplyDeleteRP