Has the Marketing world lost its mind?
It seems to me that we've seen an increasing amount of public relations blunders by large companies, who appear to lack the tact or discretion to properly design a marketing campaign. Take the above, for example. For me, this sends the message that Nike sees winning as the most important thing in the world - more than marriage, more than honesty, more than the torrid mix of things that accelerated Tiger Woods' fall from grace a couple years ago. Now, because he is back on top and rated as the #1 golfer in the world, his sins are absolved.
We live in a society which forgives, and the pace of forgiveness seems to vary depending upon social status, whether you are an athlete, politician or average Joe, but the message that as long as you're winning, nothing else matters is a faulty one. I'm not sure we've arrived at a time when Nike is best served by embracing Tiger, from a branding perspective. At least, not like this.
As evidence that this isn't an isolated issue to Nike, I offer the below image, recently released in India by a marketing company vying for business from Ford. (Ford has disavowed the advert and said it had no role in its production or approval, so I think they are off the hook.) The wider concern however is that leading professionals in the field sat around a room and thought this would create value for a firm. Sex certainly sells, there is no debate around that, but crossing the line to be so explicit about one's objectification of women is bad business. It may have worked for GoDaddy, but Ford's customers are mothers and fathers, not amateur web developers with foolish goatees and hooded sweatshirts. I grant that Ford isn't responsible for this advertisement, but I'm surprised that any leading firm would produce this as a marketing ploy for a major car manufacturer. Marketing should get back to Coca Cola polar bears and talking bullfrogs.
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