Tiger Woods will be teeing off at the Masters at 1:42 p.m., but it's hard to concentrate on the superstar golfer's actual profession when he's in the news for a new Nike ad featuring a voiceover from his deceased father and more allegations of affairs, namely one with his neighbor's 21-year-old daughter in his office next to a crib.
The black-and-white Nike ad focuses on a silent Woods, with the voice of Woods' late father Earl saying, “Tiger, I am more prone to be inquisitive, to promote discussion. I want to find out what your thinking was; I want to find out what your feelings are. And did you learn anything?" Nike explained the ad in a statement, "We support Tiger and his family. As he returns to competitive golf, the ad addresses his time away from the game using the powerful words of his father."
NY Times columnist Harvey Araton Tweeted, "We can't demand Tiger explain himself publicly and then kill him for making a commercial show of his remorse. The Nike commercial is fine," but he also liked George Vecsey's column, which called the ad tasteless: "How could anybody use the memory of a proud father to make some bucks for the corporation?"
Seems pretty smart, because then people can just blame Nike and ad people! A man legally reselling tickets to the Masters—they are going for $7500!—said, "The Tiger Effect has more than tripled prices. People are rolling up with pockets full of cash wanting to see Tiger... He did a good job at the press conference. Now people are back to liking him."
