For the first time since October of 2010, Tiger Woods is back at No. 1 in the world rankings and as you’d expect, Nike was ready to roll out a new ad celebrating the ascendance (via @NikeGolf):
New Nike Tiger Woods advertisement is somehow controversial?
Surprisingly, there are people somewhere on the Internet who find Nike’s new Tiger Woods ad controversial.
Sam Greenwood
"Winning takes care of everything." @tigerwoods, World #1. twitter.com/nikegolf/statu…
— Nike Golf (@nikegolf) March 25, 2013
Apparently, there are some people (or perhaps straw men) who find the quote in this ad controversial. Is Nike insinuating that Tiger getting his golf game back in shape and taking over No. 1 somehow papers over any personal moral failings? These critics are allegedly members of the well-reasoned Twitter masses.
As Kyle Porter of CBS notes, the quote is directly from Tiger, who uttered it last fall in Atlanta. It was a response to a question about Greg Norman’s statement that Tiger was intimidated by Rory McIlroy. At the time, young Rory was blistering through the FedExCup, and fresh off his second career major at the PGA Championship in mid-August. Much has changed since then, with Rory searching for his game and Tiger in total control, so the ad seems like an appropriate citation -- although Nike sure doesn’t mind the viral controversy.
The season is only three months old, but it’s been a busy year already for the Nike folks in charge of Tiger promo. Some of this year’s previous work:
It’s almost surprising that it took Nike four tries to stir up controversy.
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