Nike has put their brand in a controversial spot by continuing to endorse Tiger Woods with their latest Nike Golf commercial. The question is, is this good marketing? There is certainly an opportunity to generate brand exposure with millions of watchful eyes hanging on every step the tiger makes but is aligning your brand to this controversial figure a good idea or a complete shank?  There are some moral branding questions that have to be asked, do you support something or someone that is goes against core values of integrity? In their commercial Nike has taken the stance that everyone makes mistakes and it’s what you do from them and how you learn from them is what matters. Faced with pulling out of their partnership with Tiger Woods, putting their marketing dollars elsewhere, or simply doing nothing, they took a road not too often travelled; which takes guts. This high risk high reward move might seem like a role of the dice, but it’s likely a move that a major brand like Nike can endure. Only time will tell if the values they stand for will play out, in the meantime there have been a bunch of spoofs on this commercial generating even more exposure for Tiger and for Nike, here are a couple of my favs.

Spoof 1

Spoof 2