The Earl Woods voiceover used in Tiger Woods’ new Nike commercial actually came from a 2004 documentary, and in the original context he wasn’t speaking to Tiger, but making a comparison of himself to Kultida “Tida” Woods, Earl’s wife and Tiger’s mother. His full quote: “Authoritarian. Yeah, Tida is very authoritative. She is very definitive. ‘Yes’ and ‘No.’ I am more prone to be inquisitive, to promote discussion. I want to find out what you’re thinking was, I want to find out what your feelings are and did you learn anything?” [via ABC News]
You can watch the video after the jump. Does this change your impression of the ad?
Read more: EW.com’s Tiger Woods coverage
No, Earl is talking about himself in both instances. He is not talking *about* Tiger’s mom, but contrasting himself with her. But I think it’s interesting how Nike added the “Tiger” bit in the beginning to make it seem like Earl was saying this to Tiger.
Wow. My comment caused the writer to update both the title and content of this post!
Don’t flatter yourself Jason.
Tiger is a horrible person who shouldn’t be forgiven and kicked off the tour for his immoral behavior. He should lose all of his current sponsors and be sponsored by Girls Gone Wild.
I find this commercial to be distasteful and low.
All I know is that Tiger and Nike partnered to pimp out the deceased father in an effort to make money and save Tiger’s “ass-ets” and the result is a new low for greed and shamelessness. Please pass the Lysol…
Exactly, using his deceased father to help repair his image is pretty low. Editing a sound bite to make people think he was talking about Tiger is even lower. The fact that the original sound bite was about his parents and not about him makes Tiger look even worse. The man is the lowest varity of scum. He uses everyone around him for his personal gain. When caught doing something wrong he thinks a staged apology, again using those around him, will give him a free pass. Tiger some of us are not as dumb as you think we arel; we see you for what you are.
oops hit the l and ; keys together.
++11
It is a sad and pathetic day for Nike and Weiden+Kennedy to have stooped this low in trying to bring us a “heart story” — where the deceitful advertising tactics employed are only diminished by the deceitful deeds of Tiger himself.
This one ad has turned those Swooshes into symbols of dead sperm on a motel carpet.
The Year 2010, One of the Greatest Companies of all time in providing countries with sportswear and sporting products has now succumbed to low-level tabloid advertising. What PROFESSIONAL would now desire to wear NIKE product(s)?
How true.
I know, what next? Using underpaid workers in third world countries to make their products? I used to have so much respect … OH, NO I DIDN’T.
Go Tiger We Still Love You !!! Wahoo
Yeah Tiger, we don’t care what kind of human being you are as long as you can hit a golf ball. Wahoo!!
Yeah Tiger, look at me – baseball put me in the Hall of Fame, so anything goes!
Well too bad I wasn’t around to cheer for Ty Cobb. No way he gets away with it nowadays.
Yeah, where they lifted the audio from is irrelevant. I guess it does help explain why the language is so awkward in the context of the ad, but it is still a disgusting commercialization of the late Earl Woods. I doesn’t matter that his son is the one doing it. It is shameful.
Although, I guess if Tiger Woods had an ounce of shame he wouldn’t be in the situation he is in.
Not to mention his father was an adulterer
And, is it me, or does he kind of look like Jabba the Hutt…?
This is about race. If Jack Nicklaus did the same thing the media wouldn’t focus on him as much.
You know Tiger is more Asian than African American.
And before page 1 of comments ends the race card gets played. You can’t play the if game. You don’t know what would have happened if Nicklaus did the same thing. What if Tiger was white, what if he was a football player, what if the Earth rotated backwards, what if, what if… His race was, is and will never be part of the issue. If you think this is about race I truly feel sorry for you, because in this case ignorance is not bliss. If you are just trying to stir the pot, I don’t feel sorry for your ignorance.
But it’s not about Jack Nicklaus. That’s a racist thing to say, blame the media and everyone else to deflect the valid criticism Tiger and his handlers have justly earned. Jack has showed class his whole career. Tiger sadly is not a classy individual. He is a very talented golfer and a deceitful, cheating husband. It has nothing to do with the shade of anyones skin.
No more Nike for me. Woods commercial is disgusting.
I think Nike now regrets putting this out there, makes both Nike and Tiger look bad. What part of keep a low profile doesn’t he understand.
Did Nike really think that people weren’t going to dig and find out where that quote came from?
What the hell is Nike’s adverting agency thinking? This is creepy and and in very poor taste.
*advertising
Using your dead parent’s voice in a commercial ad for sportswear? Yeah, I’m sorry, but for me that’s beyond creepy and low. It smacks of selling your integrity for money. And Tiger got caught cheating with other women, he didn’t murder anyone, big deal. Was that worth all the hoopla? His father did the same thing, so it’s ironic that he would be the “voice of reason” in this case.
GMAB. He couldn’t even bother naming either one of his 2 children after dear, old Dad. Don’t go away mad, Tiger. Just go away.
Tiger’s dad cheated on his own wife for years. Why would Nike use his voice for this ad? Tiger is responsible for his own behavior, and there is no voice-over that will absolve Tiger in any way nor will it ever give him a semblance of character. What he did was classless and cheap, and that’s what he is.
He definitely took a step backwards with this commercial.