levitra comprar kamagra barato viagra im internet bestellen strafbar venta viagra españa comprar viagra españa kamagra oral jelly preisvergleich super kamagra kaufen viagra sin receta españa viagra se necesita receta kamagra verschreibungspflichtig tadalafil en chile comprar cialis generico en españa viagra precios kamagra billig venta cialis generico cialis retina cialis similares comprar viagra barato vendo viagra en barcelona farmacia viagra sin receta tadalafil generico precio precio levitra farmacia venta levitra comprar vardenafil viagras genericos viagra se puede comprar sin receta firmel cialis cialis precio oficial pildoras cialis precio cialis 10 mg kamagra in apotheke compra cialis españa comprar tadalafil precios viagra cialis levitra pastilla levitra kamagra kautabletten forum cialis mallorca viagra precio ecuador medicamento viagra viagra natural barcelona viagra niederlande rezeptfrei cialis riesgos kamagra pille 100mg cialis mas barato viagra aus holland viagra generica funciona cialis precio españa precio viagra argentina similares levitra kamagra kautabletten test viagra holland ohne rezept comprar cialis online kamagra gel kaufen kamagra in berlin kaufen tadalafil diario comprar levitra generico precio cialis españa comprar levitra online venta de levitra cialis espana kamagra shop schweiz cialis medicamento viagra generica en españa kamagra preis viagra generica viagra holland rezeptfrei kamagra günstig kaufen günstig kamagra bestellen kamagra in holland kamagra billig kaufen comprar levitra 20 mg cialis barato kamagra günstig bestellen venta viagra generico cialis comprimidos kamagra oral jelly kaufen tadalafil para mujeres venta de tadalafil diferencia cialis viagra receta viagra natural cialis generico en farmacias vendo viagra concepcion cialis 10 mg precio foro cialis viagra comprar viagra en internet cialis venta pastillas levitra levitra precio farmacia kamagra rezeptpflichtig foro cialis viagra generico el mejor afrodisiaco viagra precio en farmacias viagra generico en españa comprar cialis por internet viagra rezeptfrei niederlande comprar levitra españa vendo viagra barcelona kamagra rezept cialis pastillas viagra barato kamagra 100mg kaufen levitra 20 mg generico viagra precio en españa comprar cialis generico cialis tadalafil lilly cialis comprar españa comprar cialis farmacia viagra venta sin receta levitra 20 precio kamagra indien tadalafil generico mexico levitra venta libre viagra farmacia ahumada comprar viagra por correo cialis farmacias ahumada cialis comprar cialis marketing strategy viagra precio cialis incompatibilidades kamagra barata tadalafil foro medicamento levitra kamagra contrareembolso kamagra wo kaufen kamagra wirkung tabletas cialis generika kamagra kamagra online apotheke venta cialis online viagra venta a domicilio compro cialis kamagra en venezuela cialis precio farmacia viagra ventajas y desventajas vendo viagras precio cialis 5 mg viagra venta online precio levitra 10 mg comprar cialis por telefono levitra 20 mg precio viagra rezeptfrei holland kamagra oral jelly bestellen precio viagra con receta cialis generico venta kamagra precio viagra es venta libre kamagra pillen receta viagra cialis en farmacias viagras sin recetas levitra foro viagra genericos

Now that Tiger Woods’s penis is costing millions of Americans their jobs, something has to be done about all this reckless celebrity behavior.  If it were just a sex scandal, we might have been able to laugh it off.  But as MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann has noted, Tiger Woods himself is an industry, and when he “takes a break” from golf, he takes the paychecks of everyone from baggage handlers to marketing executives with him.  No Tiger = no public interest in the PGA, and that = even more financial ruin than you can shake a 9-wood at.

So, should companies stop placing their seemingly-fragile brand image in the hands of entirely fallible humans whose occasional moral lapses are liable to rain Midas-like shame upon everything they touch in the eyes of our hyper-judgmental, media-saturated consumers?

Heavens no.  Instead, companies should conduct morality audits of their employees.  At least that’s what Mark Cenedella has suggested, and that he’s done so without any shred of visible irony means that somebody out there is probably taking it seriously.

In a nutshell, Cenedella says:

For the cost of a few hundred thousand per year — which would ultimately come out of the star’s pocket either directly or indirectly through lower endorsement fees — a security firm could act as a third-party morals auditor. An endorser’s business partner should know, long before the public, whether or not the star is engaging in behavior risky enough to potentially threaten the business.

Hmm… Insuring the future of your business against the moral transgressions of your employees?  Seems defensible.  (Perhaps Cenedella got the idea from Henry Ford, who used to send spies to evaluate his employees’ behavior in their homes.)

But what’s missing from this proposal?

How about an acknowledgment from the public that a company’s work or products are separate from the beliefs or actions of its people?

Or an awareness on the part of companies that hinging your own brand’s success on the star of someone outside the company is always a trust game?

Or the paradigm-shifting concept that everyone — from the company to the spokesperson to the public — is responsible and accountable for his or her own choices and actions as they happen, rather than rushing to blame or judging people pre-emptively or arbitrarily?

When a company hires a spokesperson, it’s rewarding that person for pretending to be a perfect embodiment of the company’s ideals.  Hence, the contract is already predicated on a lie.  So why, when the ugly truths are inevitably revealed, does that person who was already disproportionately compensated for his allegedly-positive image now pay an equally asymmetrical price for having committed mortal transgressions that wouldn’t have gotten the shipping guy fired?

This oversized reward-and-penalty system perpetuates the irrational, godlike mentality that causes someone like Tiger Woods to believe he has to apologize to the entire English-speaking world for something he should only be apologizing to his wife for.  But he wasn’t paid to only matter to his wife; he was paid to matter to all of us, and as such, he believes he does.

And here’s the real irony: Tiger Woods and his endless line of mistresses have presented us with what our President might call “a teaching moment,” in which we all have an opportunity to evaluate our own actions, our own images, and our own methods of taking responsibility for those actions.  And if the biggest lesson we take away from all of this is that companies need to better protect their financial assets from the blunderings of celebrity genitalia, then I’d say our teaching moment has passed.

Share This Post:
  • Print
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • StumbleUpon
  • Twitter

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

  • We're sort of at a social crossroads, and Tiger is just the latest person to be affected by this.

    Any time there's a revolution, there are always some casualties...
  • Gawd - a third party moral auditor??? I had to control my gag reflex when I read this, haha. I mean, if it's going to go there, then it should be a 2-way street. Maybe these celebrities should be paying more attention and auditing the behavior of the companies they are aligning themselves with. Perhaps they can pay the same firm to spy on each other. ;)

    The concept that anyone is going to be the perfect embodiment of anyone else's values is ludicrous, and it's ridiculous to think that you can buy your way into it. Thanks for shining a light on just how irrational this concept is Justin. I'm officially a big fan now. :)

    @brandon101
  • I don't see any celibrity agreeing to the scrutiny of a company that wants to give them money. If Nike had tried this with Tiger, I think we would now be seeing Addidas golf balls. I don't know of any other sport that this could of had a more extreme revenue crisis than golf. Maybe bowling!

    You do not see the backlash in revenues when it is a team sport. Look at Vick or Ray Lewis. How about. How many players have cheated with HGH in baseball. Yet their sports still prosper.

    In the the rise and fall of golf, let's try not to blame him for the complete fall. Let's blame golf for the complete greed and lack of seeing a direction to go in so one golfer could make or break their revenue stream.

    And for the record, Olberman drools, Beck RULEZ!!!! :^)
  • Golf's inability to grow beyond Tiger is baffling, but maybe it shouldn't be. When the logical approach involves diversity and youth-based initiatives, we can't be surprised when a sport previously famed for segregating its competitors fails to wrap its head around a diversified marketing plan.

    (And on a personal note, I'd like to point out that Jeff is a great example of proof that I *can* happily coexist with conservatives, even if they buy into Glenn Beck. As Tiny Tim might say, "Merry Christmas, every one.")
blog comments powered by Disqus