Nike Has Lost Their Marbles

I typically reserve my posts for other topics but I could not pass this one up.

Where have our standards gone?  Did they go out the window when I was sleeping?  Nike released a new TV ad this week under their golf line.  The ad features a prominent golfer that’s been in the news a lot lately for his transgressions.  I think we all know who I’m referring to.  In my opinion the new ad cheapens the Nike brand as they insert themselves in this story.

I appreciate the fact that Nike has made significant investments in their golf line over the years, largely centered around Tiger.  The risk always exists when you attach your brand to a celebrity or athlete that you give up control over how your brand is represented and put control in the hands of the person you are sponsoring.  Nike knowingly took this risk and accepted it.  The reason Nike aligned themselves with Tiger originally was because he was young, pure, clean-cut and successful at an early stage of his career.  But how does Nike justify putting their brand in the middle of this saga of sins?  It just does not belong there.  It is the exact opposite of the reasons they originally chose to sign Tiger.

It does not concern me as much that Nike wants to stick with their face man and sell more shoes and golf gear.  That is a topic for another discussion.  The concern is that it is not okay that they want to be part of this story.  When did it become okay for a brand to profit from the type of transgressions committed by Tiger?  Did it start when Monica Lewinsky became a household name?  Have we as a society lost our morals and scruples over the years as we’ve watched other athletes, politicians and celebrities admit to their sins?  Have we accepted this behavior as a norm?  Or is this just bad judgment on the part of the Nike brand team?  I want to believe it is the latter.

I have a message for marketers like Nike and others that control how and where their brands are represented and how that connects back to sales and profits.  When deciding where your brand is promoted, you need to first think about what is right from a morals perspective and how this affects your brand.  You need to then think about how your brand fits into a story.  In this case, Nike had nothing to do with what happened and should distance their brand from the story.

To Nike specifically- keep the brand separate from the story.  Don’t try to leverage the story to promote your brand.  Its the wrong place for the brand.  The brand had nothing to do with what happened in Tiger’s personal life.

Nike, you made a bad choice by inserting your brand in the story.  You’ve lost my respect as a marketer.  You need to find your morals and scruples and re-learn to promote your brand in a more positive light.  The Tiger ad is not going to make people want to buy Nike golf gear or apparel.  It is casting a negative halo over the swoosh.

Flickr image courtesy of Oldmaison