I’m not sure we can really blame Nike for this, to be honest. Their major brand ambassadors haven’t exactly been covering themselves in glory lately. Over the last two years we’ve been treated to porn stars by Tiger, career kleptomania by Lance, and an ongoing trial for Oscar.

So you almost feel a little sorry for them that they’re getting backlash for cashing in on Tiger Woods’ return to the number one spot in golf. When they released a print ad featuring Tiger Woods in a golf crouch with the worlds “Winning takes care of everything” on Facebook and Twitter, commentators begged the question, “Takes care of what, exactly?”

“Everything”, for those of you who don’t remember includes banging multiple porn stars, despite being married, attending rehab for sex addiction, getting screwed in a divorce, and packing on a whole lot of depression fat.

By Tuesday evening the ad which was meant to be in honour of Woods had been retweeted over 2,600 times , earned 8,500 Facebook likes and nearly 400 comments.

Lynn Zinser of the New York Times had this to say:

If anyone should know winning doesn’t take care of everything, it’s Nike, which has had to inch away from several famous endorsers who have proved that all too painfully…This makes the ‘winning takes care of everything’ sentiment even more tone deaf. If anything, we should be backing away cautiously from the typical sports hero worship, not doubling down on it.

#Victory

[Source: The Week]