When I objectively examine the issue of athletes and their personal conduct as it relates to their marketing endorsements (fan likeability), I find it virtually impossible to arrive at one, majority-agreed upon way of measuring exactly who will be viewed as palatable, rehabilitative, and still endorsed; versus those who will seemingly lose all public enthusiasm, and will be relegated as incorrigible, morally-irresponsible, no-goods of society!Obviously, the recent Tiger Woods story has brought this issue to the surface again, and it will be interesting to watch how his marketing contracts and fan response changes (if at all). Like you, I will watch how Tiger’s story unfolds, but I will try to study the outcome and hopefully gain better clarity of the following objective data:a) The legal consequencesb) General fan responsec) Media “slant” (if any)d) Marketing endorsements (whether he is retained, dropped, or adds new business)While it is not my intent to equate the severity of Tiger’s current issues to any other athlete, it should be noted that history reveals that fans (and endorsement deals) wax-and-wane and cover the gamut of emotion and related consequences. The list is endless when it comes to athletes and moral, social, and legal issues, and it includes many very famous names over the years – OJ Simpson, Magic Johnson, Pete Rose, Kobe Bryant, Roger Clemens, and Andre Agassi to name a few – and the responses given in the past make it incredibly challenging, at minimum, if not impossible to determine how the current Tiger Woods situation will be judged. Some of the more obvious factors that will, at least in some part, contribute to general reaction will be the legal implications, previous fan support and likeability, social/political/religious variables, media portrayal, and the timing of response (both to the public and as it relates to subsequent athletic success).Of course, this is just the beginning of ways to examine the factors that will contribute to general public response. Additional, more discrete factors might likely include race, gender, geographic location of home team, and physical attractiveness. Of course, the most salient features of Tiger’s issues (domestic issues are the central theme of most media reports at this writing) will resonate more strongly and directly to fans with deep emotional feelings about infidelity — while other fans who do not feel as strongly about marital issues may whisk over that part of the story, and react by supporting Tiger because of his previous history of excellence in golf, or his terrific history of doing good for society through his charitable work. As you can see, there are a lot of “moving pieces” to examine as public reaction gently percolates.I’m certain there are dozens of additional factors that will contribute to general public opinion that I could list (both with respect to Tiger Woods and general athlete-fan responses at-large), but I think I have made my point:When it comes to athletes who get in trouble and general public opinion, it’s a crapshoot predicting how it will unfold.
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