Gatorade drops Tiger

Boom goes the dynamite, with in the blink of an eye it seemed that Tiger Woods has lost what has took him many years of hard work to build. Tiger did what thousands of average people unfortunately do on a semi-regular basis, cheat, not to say that because its common makes it okay but that its not uncommon to hear about this happening in current times. Last week Gatorade ended their long relationship with tiger, saying they no longer saw a place for him with their company. Gatorade was the third major sponsor to drop tiger since his extramarital affairs. Gatorade also recently pulled the drink Tiger focus claiming to have ended the line due to its low sales. The company, a subsidiary of PepsiCo Inc., has however agreed to continue donating money to the Tiger Foundation. this does not come as a shock to me because the whole purpose of sponsoring an athlete is to make money marketing the athlete and selling the companies products. A company cannot sell their product when the athlete that is promoting their product has had their negative personal affairs spread all over the media and many people have lost respect for. This also raises another question for me. I question the loyalty of these companies that have made millions of dollars from consumers that buy their products partly because of the athletes that are working for them. Do they have no compassion for human mistake and are they really willing to drop a loyal employee at the drop of a hat. This whole situation boils down to the companies wanting to continue to make money and have athletes that are not viewed negatively by the public representing them because people will not buy their stuff. It is unfortunate for Tiger and his family that his personal life has become smeared all over the tabloids and become a media frenzy. The fact is he is still an incredible golfer, ridiculously wealthy and in a year or two, when the affairs have blown over and he starts to win again, he will be redeemed in the eyes of the public and companies will pick him back up to sponsor them. It is not the end of the road for Tiger.

Meghan Romero
KIN 332i