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With all the talk over the past months about the "Tiger Woods' Scandal," Nike, one brand who uses Woods as an endorser has decided to launch a new Nike ad, featuring Tiger Woods himself, despite the controversies going on within his personal life. Unlike Nike, other brands who feature Woods as their main endorser have dropped him. So after everything, why did such a big company like Nike decide to keep him as their leading spokesperson?

The new Nike brand commercial (shown above) launched on ESPN and the Golf Channel purposely doing so as Woods made his return debut to the golf world. The short commercial clip titled "Earl and Tiger," uses the image of Woods in gear sporting the Nike logo with a voice over of his late father, Earl. The simple, but meaningful statements that are heard within the advertisement help to tie the commercial to the recent events that had happened in Woods' life. Why did Nike decide to do this? To me, Nike truly did a great job. While I may not favor the commercial so much, the meaning is quite clear. Perhaps, everything that was exposed about Tiger lately needed to be addressed in order for him to return to golf. By creating an ad like this, consumers are able to see that the problem was addressed, but there is now a bridge to get over the gap that has been caused because of his recent infidelities. People can see this advertisement, note their was a problem, but also see that we can get passed it. Nike hoped that by keeping Woods as their leading endorser and creating something as simple, but with a truly powerful idea, the message would surely reach its audience, and also promote the Nike brand in a positive way once again.