Tiger Woods Scandal Is Over, Investors Say

The Tiger Woods comeback is, in a way, official, now that the world's No. 1 golfer has completed his return to the world stage at The Masters tournament this past weekend.

Still, analysts are varied in their opinion of how his return will impact the companies that are still sponsoring Woods. Some believe the impact will be minimal, arguing that while Tiger is good for network ratings, he does not actually contribute all that much to the sales of sponsors like Electronic Arts(ERTS) and Nike (NKE).

Others believe that Tiger's return to golf will ultimately lead to a satisfying payoff for those companies, both of whom have supported Tiger through the height of his sex scandal.

Given the divergence of opinion, we wanted to know what TheStreet has to say, and thus posed the question: "Do you think the Tiger Woods scandal has finally played itself out?"

As if to further complicate matters, on Wednesday, April 7, a mere day before the opening round at Augusta National, Nike released a new, roughly 30-second ad, featuring a silent Tiger Woods, with the voice of his deceased father, Earl, posthumously reprimanding his son.

In the spot, as the camera pans closer to Tiger's face, Earl intones: "Tiger -- I am more prone to be inquisitive, to promote discussion. I want to find out what your thinking was. I want to find out what your feelings are. And did you learn anything?" The ad was produced by ad agency Wieden + Kennedy, and ABC News reported that the audio was "selectively spliced" from an interview in 2004, in which Earl was actually referring to his wife Kultida, and not Tiger.

When asked how he felt about the ad, Woods said he believed it was "very apropos," and that "any son who has lost a father, and who meant so much in their life, I think they would understand the spot." Tiger added that he felt his father, who had passed away in 2006 and had been his coach and mentor, was still helping him from beyond the grave.

Howe Burch, executive vice president and managing director at Baltimore-based ad agency TBC, said of the ad: "I think a lot of people would respond negatively to the fact Nike is exploiting this situation for commercial gain," but noted that it has generated a lot of publicity that could lead to significant returns for its golf business. Burch has run marketing units at Reebok International and Fila.


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