Taming Tiger - from Media Post

After watching Tiger's mea culpa, I sort of wish he hadn't broken his silence -- contrary to what I would advise clients in times of crisis.

Why? Because he broke the spell for me -- and no doubt millions of others. While I've never been a Tiger fanatic, his reputation for prowess, razor-sharp mental focus and determination was what set him apart from other more "human" celebrities and athletes. This was a man who was intensely private -- after all, he was able to hide his extensive philandering for how many years?

We saw this man screw up, literally and figuratively, and descend into a self-imposed recovery period to sort his mess out -- away from the public's insatiable appetite for scandal, idol destruction and celebrity demise. But that's not the problem.

Now, he's brought his life into the open again, into the public domain for its forgiveness and his eventual resurrection. For a guy used to hitting laser-like drives onto fairways, his was definitely an "out of bounds" ball or that almost forbidden word for most golfers ..."a shank."

Tiger's public statement was terrible on any number of counts, but I'll explore only two here.

Greater golfer, lousy speaker

Listening to his "I'm sorry I'm sorry" speech, it became painfully obvious why Tiger's previous statements were posted on his website and not YouTube -- Tiger is one lousy speaker. What that man needs is some media training, not rehab.

Paradoxically, although he's been in the public spotlight for years, he's most definitely not a public speaker - his on-course intensity bled into his public persona. And that was okay before because his controlled and emotionless voice was part of that persona and enmeshed with the rock-solid Tiger brand. But not anymore, not now he's exposing his dirty laundry for the world to see. What we saw unravel before our eyes was a lame, emotionless forgive-me-for-I-have sinned apology which did not gel or feel authentic. Tiger is not sorry for what he's done to me, or to my husband who loves golf -- because he hasn't actually done anything to personally affect or harm us. He's not sorry to you, or the person next to you.

Who Tiger should be sorry to are the sponsors that have invested millions and millions into his brand, his bank account and, of course, his family. So why is a public apology necessary then? To make him feel better, to absolve his actions and shed some of the guilt?

We don't need to hear or see anything that personal or private. Really, we don't. We have enough of that "reality" already.

What resulted from Tiger's statement was a media circus, with news hounds and talk show hosts dissecting every soundbite, adding their own spin or interpretation to it -- a bit like what I'm doing right now. Something to fill a slow news day and little else. In my mind, all that Tiger's apology succeeded in doing was to feed the media beast and prolong our unhealthy obsession with sinners and rehab, not change the public's opinion of him -- which was the intention, I'm sure.

Which brings me to my next point.

Sex addiction? Spare me, please

We all have issues, we all screw up, say sorry and move on. Some of us repeat our mistakes, most of us learn from them. But so many "issues" we seem to have developed over the past three decades have spawned from a need to pigeonhole what is inherently defective human behavior. Can't concentrate? You have ADD. Can't stop yourself from getting sloshed every night? You are a drunk. Can't keep your knickers on? You are a sex addict.

I am certainly not a qualified medical profession (although I slept at a Holiday Inn once) but I don't think Tiger is a sex addict. I don't even know if that is really an addiction -- humans have been grappling with lust and sexual urges since Adam and Eve. It's not even listed in the DSM, the standard diagnostic manual for psychiatric disorders. In my humble opinion, sex addiction has become the exclusive purview of entitled, spoilt rich brats -- and anyone else wanting to avoid a very expensive, I'm-taking-you-to-the-cleaners-for-everything divorce.

Moral and scientific arguments aside, who are we to judge if Tiger has become a better man? Better still, why should we care?

People cheat. People crash cars. Tiger isn't the first golfer/man/human to do it, and he won't be the last.

Taming Tiger is a job left best to his wife, and perhaps his mother, but not the public. Leave us out of your mess, please, and be quiet. Because in Tiger's case, silence really is golden.

Re: Sex and the Digital City

Picked up Robert Wright’s posting in the Times Opinionator blog a couple of days ago entitled “Sex and the Digital City”, and my takeaway -- beyond the impression that he’s my kind of writer, with just enough post-ironic, witty self-awareness in his prose to make his point palatable -- is that he touched on a couple of critical points about our culture and way information is disseminated in a hyper-connected age.

This concept appears to be the elephant in the room that everyone can’t stop talking about, and yet couching it in terms of marital fidelity lends it a visceral quality while simultaneously stripping the ever-titillating topic of who’s-screwing-who of some of its juice. Wright maintains that the age of paperless communication is actually the age of immortal ‘paper’ trails, and whether you’re a pro golfer or the Governor of a small southern state or just the philanderer next door, you can expect your latest tryst to be accompanied by an army of zombie missives revived from trash folders and T-Mobile’s memory banks.

And like all good zombies, they don’t stop until they consume everyone’s brain.

Wright asks, toward the end of his piece, whether our new culture scourged with binary sex zombies (which, Dave Barry (if you’re reading), would make an excellent name for a rock band) will lead to fewer instances of infidelity, out of fear of exposure, or more, having created an environment where such deviancy is effectively the norm. He hinges this argument on increasing instances of hypocrisy- the more hypocrites get exposed, the more a particular behavior becomes acceptable.

Without agreeing completely with Wright’s conclusion, I believe that the modern information echo chamber lives on hypocrisy of this kind, and it will continue to feed itself with the help of its information-zombie minions. There is no escape.

Does that mean the collapse of American family life, and the dissolution of faithful marriage in general? No.

A little erosion, perhaps, but nothing that the previous half-century hasn’t already sloughed away.

#Number 49, The Week That Was

First up, Maureen Dowd needs to stop bashing everyone in the administration. Ok, now onto the week that was…

Materialists rejoice, frugalists it’s time to move aside.
You have a mission – to save our economy! Who cares if you’re in debt or your house is in foreclosure. Bah humbug! You have a higher calling folks – the nation’s retailers and industries are counting on you. The era of thrift and a return to values, whatever that means, didn’t last so long, did it? That’s according to the WSJ camp. The folks over at NYT think otherwise…

And while I don’t fancy reliving any scenes from The Gangs of New York, a trip to Manhattan's Lower East Side Tenement Museum offers a lesson on the difference between what we want and what we need - and how good most of us still have it!

Italy’s Sleazminister gets smacked in the face.
I’m wondering why it took so long? In a country rife with corruption, double standards and philandering as an encouraged marital practice, someone finally had enough of Berlusconi's misdeeds and punched his lights out. While I’d never encourage or incite a violent act, Italy’s Primeminister has kept the country in a twilight zone and made it a laughing stock of the Euro zone. Time to find another punching bag perhaps?

A case of Tigeritis
Two weeks on and we’re still writing about Tiger. Poor old Tiger. Sleazy old Tiger. He’s not a superhero: he’s human, like anyone else. The illusion he created has been shattered, and like the most virtuous girl in school who does something very nasty/lascivious on Prom Night, rebuilding the brand might almost be impossible. So why not let him bow out gracefully and get his act together – Act II, Scene I – Tiger Makes a Comeback as Golf School Instructor, or something like that. Leave the poor guy alone. In fact, if the media and the peanut gallery put that much effort into the unfaithful acts of Mark Sanford and Co, they’d probably be no Republicans left to fight the health care bills in Congress. Except Joe, but no one wants him anyway.

Waists may turn to blubber, but what about your brain?
David Rock warns of the neurological effect social media excess can have on our brains. Too much affects the area of the brain that governs impulse control - the same area affected by compulsive eating. Sadly, social media nor junk food provides the nourishment we need to maintain our health, let alone flourish. Despite the incessant flow information that we think we need, the constant interruption caused by social media is creating so many distractions that train the brain to operate at a substandard level. The result? Our brains our turning to mush…We're reading less and what we do read doesn't promote a deeper knowledge - the kind that instigates debate, reflection or critical thought. Yep, “garbage in, garbage out."

Celluloid Rules: When 3D Rocked London
Hollywood thrives in harsh economic times. We count on a flick as an attainable escape from our daily struggles. Right now, the 3D craze is giving consumers reason to turn off the DVD player and go back to the cinema. Ten years in the making and costing a whopping $425m to create, Avatar, the first big-budget live-action release to be shot in 3D opened in London this week - and the rest of the planet is buzzing in anticipation. What's next!? Tim Burton doing a 3D Alice in Wonderland? Oh...he is actually. See you at the movies!

#Number Forty Eight, The Week That Was

And what a fantabulous week it was, full of meaty goodness for the tabloids. Tiger seriously maimed his brand, a preggers lady pops one out on the plane, and the Italians almost lynched young murderess, Amanda Knox. Oh, Afghanistan will be the proud caretaker of 30,000 more US troops and consumers are finally spending a little bit more. Three cheers for consumerism!

Other news you could have used…

Newspapers
German publisher Springer wants to save the newspapers by, wait for it, charging for content. How original$#@*& But while there’s nothing new in that kind of wishful thinking, I wholeheartedly support Springer’s MO – charging for quality content and getting rid of the meta-philosophy of free. I’ve been harping on about this since 2005 – why didn’t anyone listen? Eric Pfanner writes in his article for the New York Times “Publisher Lays Out Plan to Save Newspapers” that Springer wants to create a “one-click marketplace solution” for online content, so that instead of separate pay walls around individual newspaper Web sites, publishers and Internet companies can work together. Can you see this happening, honestly?

And more about newspapers, checkbook bias
Blurring the very distinct lines between editorial content and advertising has been pooh-poohed for a very long time. But a bunch of ad guys in Dallas have decided to take over some newsrooms, because apparently some editors are ready to bend over and take it. think it’s okay to blend sales with editorial. Because of course the sales managers would never, ever get in the way of news coverage. Never. Of course not. We know that papers need to sell ads to stay in business, and I’d be the biggest hypocrite if I said otherwise (see above). But sales execs have absolutely no place in determining editorial coverage or what gets placed on those pages. Once they take over control of “messaging” in news, our trust of media is totally doomed. Millions of people have been up in arms about media bias over the past few months and the WH/MSNBC vs. Fox-Off, and this brings it to a whole new level: checkbook bias. It also smells of a massive ethics conflict just waiting to happen. Sadly, the winner will be the one with the biggest checkbook, not the moral one. I know that newspapers are trying out all types of different new business models, but they should totally trash this one. I work with newsrooms all around the country and if I have to starting ponying up to receive “unbiased” coverage for my clients, the PR agency model is so, so dead.

About the large and airplanes
I know I’ll be accused of being a fatist for the following post, but I’m definitely not. I used to be 65 pounds heavier, so I know what it feels like to be categorized as fat. But these days, when I stroll up to the check-in counter with just 5lbs of extra luggage and get walloped with a $100 surcharge, I take absolutely no issue with that airline charging an additional surcharge or fare for an extremely overweight person. A recent story circulated from FlightGlobal.com onto MSNBC and the Huffington Post with pictures of a man taking up half an aisle, a seat and then some. Airlines charge for extra luggage because it reduces the carrying capacity on the plane. There is a maximum weight (load) that any plane can carry and that’s why there’s a personal allowance. Someone who boards a plane and who’s used up 15 peoples’ personal allowance, not to mention spreading over to the next seat, needs to pay for their “extra share”. The only difference between that person’s extra luggage and mine, is that mine has to be checked. It’s not discriminatory: if you travel with a pet, you pay extra. If you travel with a child, you pay extra. If you travel with an extra 100lb belly, you pay extra. Conversation over, next!

Dead man rocking
At first I laughed and then when I read the story, I cried. A 33 year-old man had be cut out of his recliner after spending 8 months in it. It’s a sorry state when you’ve allowed yourself to get to a point when you cannot move or get up from a chair. 550lbs? No one needs to resign themselves to being that heavy. I feel guilty if I sit on my behind for more than 5 hrs at a stretch (13 is my record, I had a lot of proposals to knock out). And it’s just as sad when your partner watches idly and does nothing to intervene. But what’s really sad is that the healthcare system is simply not there for people like the Webbs. Live in a mobile home in a low-income community and have no health insurance. It’s not a pretty picture to be sure, but it made me cry nonetheless. I’m just wondering if the recliner was a La-Z-Boy?

Porn, porn wherever you are
Love porn? There’s a new app for that. Called MiKandi, Mobile Marketing Watch reports that the world’s first adult-only app store was recently launched for Android devices, but not the iPhone. I wonder what Apple’s afraid of? In the porn-only store, users can search a range of free and paid applications, post reviews and join discussions – all in the privacy of the bus, train or office cubicle. In a long meeting full of boring PowerPoints, MiKandi now comes to the rescue. Mobile phone come out, come out wherever you are.

Putting Tiger’s tangles to rest
Tiger Woods to media: I don't need you bums. Thank you Tiger, we’re all ready to move on the next philanderer now. What’s the chances of it being a women? Anyone?

Here’s to another great week everyone!

Vanessa

Happy Holidays from the Woods

Now that the police have closed their books and we've carved the tender meat off of the Tiger Woods scandal (because the celebrity media food mill will certainly be churning out spicy sausages of gossip for some time), it's time to think about how the great Golfer can begin to revamp his image. He has no shortage of examples to follow, as there's no shortage of famous philanderers trying to walk back a similarly public walk of shame (as it were). But finding the right fidelity-challenged celeb for Tiger to emulate is a difficult task.

The best thing would have been to get out in front of the story immediately, to exert whatever small measure of control over the news cycle he could from the start. Instead, he stonewalled and by doing so let the TMZs and National Enquirers (and restaurant hostesses) fill the public's appetite for idol destruction.

His headscratching and evasive online posts conjured up images of our First Philanderer, but if his image rehab goes as well as former President Clinton's did, he'll be fortunate. Of course, Tiger faces a different set of PR challenges; he's not going to be term-limited out of the PGA tour in two years, and somehow I doubt he'll be doing penance on the senate seat campaign trail anytime soon. Nevertheless, Clinton's later confessions and heartfelt apologies, coupled with an American public weary of the scandal, helped set the stage for his transformation into a well-respected philanthropist, and that should be probably be the first step in Tiger's image recovery.

Trouble with Tiger is that his on-course intensity bleeds into his public persona. He seems like a friendly guy, but not so warm and fuzzy as to invite compassion. He's built a massive brand machine on the precision with which he approaches his sport, and he comes off like that- mechanized with determination of steel. Engineered. So neither a tearful apology nor a Hugh-Grant-esque laughing shrug-off would work, and a flat, almost angry Kanye-style confessional would only further damage his sponsorship obligations.

Nope, what Tiger has to do is be honest and heartfelt. He should try to make amends with his wife and pursue some charitable effort on behalf of at-risk women. And he doesn't have to throw himself to the wolves, but he must accept the responsibilities of his celebrity status and take the healing process public.

Perhaps the best example for Tiger to follow is David Letterman. They hold similar positions in their chosen fields, they both are household names, they both cherish their privacy. Dave was well out in front of his scandal a few months ago, and now it seems to have all but disappeared from the headlines. His show actually enjoyed higher ratings during his confession period. By confronting it head on, with composure and sincerity, he managed to turn what could have been a career-threatening gaffe into at least a not-negative situation.

People cheat. People crash cars. Tiger isn't the first golfer to do it, and he won't be the last. But to heal his considerable brand image, he has to start talking about it, and very soon.

Let the healing begin!

Tigers Tangles

I’m a little late to the party on Tiger Woods tangle, but now that the news cycle has moved onto something new, I’d like to dissect what happened from a PR perspective instead of a moral one.

It’s difficult to find anyone who considers this week’s “event” (tabloidapolooza and all) a publicity high for Tiger. The old saw about there being no such thing as bad publicity doesn’t apply to an athlete whose brand image supercedes that of the sport he plays (or even of all sports, his agent might say), so let’s toss that right away.

The fact is, by maintaining a stubborn strategy of silence, Tiger surrendered complete control over his story to the media, and to those who stand to gain (read: “bar executive”). And that’s just bad PR. Worse still is the involvement of legal counsel in advising on a crisis PR strategy. Last time I checked, lawyers were experts in law, not PR.

It’s not my place to pass judgment on Tiger’s behavior, so I won’t. I am sure that by sticking to his attorney’s advice, Tiger may have avoided even greater consequences for himself and his family. But, and that is a very big but, a global celebrity and sports hero of Tiger’s standing cannot let the TMZs and the National Enquirers mold the stories that will ultimately damage his brand. They already have. Tiger’s position as a brand unto himself demands vigilance and protection, but not silence.

His biggest mistake was attempting to cover up and lie. With bloggers and hacks eeking out a on living celebrity sightings and gossip, this strategy is long dead. What he should have done was fess up, first to the people trying to help him and eventually to the public. People like regret and rehab stories. We seem to relish in others acknowledging their sins and repenting their wicked deeds in a very public and humiliating way. Then we can forgive and move on to the next naughty boy who dipped his quill into an inkwell it didn’t belong.

This is the hand Tiger has dealt for himself. In his line of business, it must be played - at all times, in private matters or otherwise - with an eye towards the public’s perception and mitigating negative PR.

Tiger could have significantly reduced negative coverage simply by being out in front of the story. David Letterman did, and turned bad press on its head. Tiger could have fessed up to Golf Magazine of Golf World instead of allowing some "bar executive" sell her story to US Weekly. But he chose to stay quiet and his silence filled the news vacuum. His cryptic online responses to rumors should have been managed better, not by lawyers but by PR professionals.

In PR, we know that silence is not golden. We also know that once you lose control of the story, the game is lost.

This was one of the few losses Tiger’s ever endured, and most likely his biggest one.