I have to give credit to a friend at work for giving me the idea to write about this. At the end of a team meeting, she brought this up as a casual topic of discussion, and we spoke a bit about the effects a star’s personal life can have on a brand they represent / are sponsored by. We also tied in the effects of this on the company we work for, but I won’t go there.

These days people have a lot to say about golf superstar Tiger Woods. In case you are not up-to-date with the happenings of Mr. Woods (though it’s all over the news) here’s a quick recap of his situation: In the course of approximately the last two years, he has been cheating on his wife and having simultaneous relationships with at least five other women. This all just recently became public knowledge, and many companies who used to sponsor him have dropped him (except Nike). Last weekend, he publicly apologized for hurting and disappointing so many people close to him, and he continues his therapy to work on his “sex addiction”.

So he lost some sponsors. Is this well deserved? How about Nike, should they drop him too? Here’s what I think: Why did these companies choose to sponsor him to begin with? Did it have to do with how he lived his personal life? I think not. It had to do with how successful he is at golf! Nobody picks up a Nike golf club and says to themselves “I hope to be as great of a husband as Tiger is” – they say “I hope to be as great of a golfer as Tiger is”. I’m not saying that the fact that he commit adultery is excusable and unimportant – I’m just saying that it hasn’t affected his ability to a top golfer! He may not be the best example of a husband, but what does that have to do with Nike’s sponsorship to him as a golfer?

One may argue that there are “some people out there” who will now boycott Nike golfing equipment because they do not think that Nike should “promote” behavior such as Tiger’s as being correct. Honestly, maybe within the next year this may be true. But in a few years from now, this will all be old news and people will still want to be as great a golfer as Tiger! Not to mention, (I am in no way sexist!) probably most of these “Nike boycotters” will be women. The reason I say this is because women are the ones likely to relate to Elin (Tiger’s wife) and feel like she is the victim. This is especially true for women who are victims, themselves, of adultery.

So all of this brings me to the bottom line; my essential question – is it a smart move to sponsor a famous “star” to be the face of a brand? And, what connection do their personal actions have to the brand? If they represent the brand, how do their personal decisions (positive or negative) impact the brand?