Following a tumultuous 4 years for Tiger Woods which consisted of his very public divorce and reports of his many infidelities, he reclaimed the world number 1 ranking after winning a 2013 PGA Tour Event. In response to this, Nike released this ad. In my opinion, this ad was misguided as it did not consider the message it sent to its target audience of young athletes and fans.
Tiger was accused of cheating on his wife by multiple women; he was charged with a DUI and admitted he had a drinking problem. This ad suggests that winning sports events eliminates any consequences for your actions. It also minimizes cheating on a partner and abusing alcohol and drugs. Considering Nike and Tiger’s target audience, these are dangerous messages that not only minimize but glorify these mistakes to young athletes and fans.
For these young athletes and fans who look up to people like Tiger, they will be inclined to view his history as cool and will believe the message that winning is all that matters. The ad suggests that it is okay to cheat on and disrespect your wife/girlfriend/partner as long as you win at your sport. In today’s world, children are taught to respect and view women as equal in many areas of their lives. However, for young fans who look up to athletes like Tiger, this ad is a large step backwards and reinforces the toxic culture of disrespecting women. In my opinion, this feeds into a larger culture issue in youth sports. Personally, I’ve played sports from recreational to elite levels and I have seen this attitude be a problem for young boys and some parents. Winning can be prioritized over teaching values and because of this, young male athletes are more inclined to view women objectively and to be disrespectful towards them, viewing them also as another ‘win’. The Nike advertisement is a perfect depiction of this toxic culture that is unfortunately, present in today’s sports world.
In my jammed ad, I hoped to capture the toxic message that this ad sends as it feeds directly into a negative aspect of sports culture, which is objectivity and disrespect of women. I wanted to make it clear what the original ad led on, given Tiger’s history. The jammed ad highlights the issue with saying “winning takes care of everything”, as susceptible young boys will be influenced into believing that repeatedly cheating on your partner is acceptable, as long as you excel at your sport.
I choose the new main quote because I think it makes it clear, how the original ad could very easily be interpreted by Tiger’s fans. I also changed the words “World #1”, to “recovering cheater, and alcoholic”, because it is a better representation of where he was in his life, at the time. In the bottom corner I changed “Victory” to “Ego Over Values” because Nike made a conscious effort in this ad to glorify and undermine the cheating, disrespect, and neglect Tiger showed towards his family. The new wording shows susceptible fans what Tiger’s reality was at the time. Although he was winning tournaments, his mistakes had still led to divorce and rehab for alcohol abuse. It is important for fans to realize that winning does not take care of everything. In fact, in Tiger’s case, winning was actually a leading cause for his infidelity and abuse.
The jammed ad addresses the troubling culture that can exist in sports, and particularly in boys. Exposing them to glorification of this toxic culture is irresponsible on Nike’s behalf. Youth sports have invaluable benefits on the development of a child, and more effort needs to be placed on these values that are taught through sports, as opposed to just winning. An even larger challenge is addressing the disrespectful culture that can exist towards women in sports. It is an uncomfortable conversation in sports locker rooms; however, leaders and coaches must step up and prioritize respect and equality for women in the sports world.
References
Zaldivar, G. (2020). Nike’s Tiger Woods Ad Proclaims ‘Winning Takes Care of Everything,’ World Freaks. Retrieved 26 February 2020, from https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1582390-nikes-tiger-woods-ad-proclaims-winning-takes-care-of-everything-world-freaks