A tamed Tiger

This has certainly got to be the PR story of the year. Tiger just keeps resurfacing on all sorts of media outlets, and it's no surprise why. I know I've already talked about him in a couple of my other blogs already, but this one has to take the cake in terms of bad PR. I'm talking of course about his overdue apology to his family, friends, media and golf fans everywhere.

He's finally broken his silence. Sort of. I have to say I'm not very impressed with his apology at all. First of all, it's 3 months late. Second, it seemed so fake, unemotional and robotic. Even his tears seemed forced. And that hug with his mother? Awkward to say the least. Third, seems even more staged when questions were not allowed. 

Makes me wonder whether the apology was straight from the heart or just a means to regain his status in the golf world and with his sponsors.
 
I read an interesting article in my Communications Management class about how apologies in the entertainment/sports/celebrity world has become common. And how apologies have become a very strategic form of communications. With that in mind, it makes it hard to believe whether an apology is true of not. 

If Woods really wants to commit to changing, like he claims he wants to do, why deny the audience of the press conference (the majority of whom were close family and friends) the opportunity to ask questions? I think that could have helped him to look more human and more sorry for his irresponsible actions. 

The press conference atmosphere made it seem very cold and unwelcoming too. I understand that the point was to focus on what he was saying, but it just seemed phony. I would have suggested a more intimate setting, such as a live feed from a respectable news station. He didn't even really need an audience, a one-on-one interview would have been more effective, especially since there was no real reason to have an audience there. His family and friends looked like they were strategically placed there to "support" his apology, and them not actually participating confirms that. Something like how Rihanna sat one-on-one with Barbara Walters months after ex-boyfriend Chris Brown was charged with assault. With that we saw raw emotion and the interview seemed almost casual and real. Reading off a speech didn't help him much either. It made him sound like he's saying strategically placed sentences to appease his sponsors and the world of golf than his actual audience and fans. I understand that he needed to get everything out there and fess up to his "indiscretions" but I don't think a written speech like that was necessary. Especially since it was 15 minutes long without any interaction with the audience (other than that excuse for a hug with his mother). If his PR staff really wanted to change his image, they would have approached the apology press conference in a different way. 

He's a great golfer, I'll give him that, and yes the affairs weren't affecting his game (clearly), but as a celebrity athlete, he has a responsibility to his fans (especially the young kids aspiring to be golfers like him). And with that in mind, he's got to clean up his act. And it's up to his PR staff to help him get there. And that means building better strategies to save his image as he claws his way back into the world of golf. Because right now, they're not doing a great job staging the apology 3 months late and with very little (or very forced, you be the judge) emotions.

But I do hope that Tiger has learned something from this experience and for the sake of his children and the children who look up to, I hope he does change.