Do you trust Tiger?

By Admin • on December 11, 2009

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I recently (11/17/09) wrote about how American culture has gotten itself in deep trouble by embracing “nonjudgmentalism” as a virtue — by accepting that there’s virtue in withholding judgment of others’ bad behavior. OK, here’s a perfect illustration of why that’s insane: Tiger Woods’ multi-million-dollar product endorsement deals. Ultimately, they’re based on the guy’s trustworthiness. No male consumer in his right mind would want to shave with a particular razor just because some guy who’s good at golf shaves with that razor. What if it’s a sucky razor? Does golf skill imply shaving skill or special knowledge of razors? No. Sure, some sycophantic fans might buy Tiger’s razor just to “be like” Tiger, but I don’t think that explains the majority of the value in a razor endorsement deal with Woods, and it certainly doesn’t explain why people would go out and buy a particular car that Woods endorses, especially when it’s pretty clear that Woods doesn’t even really drive that particular car. No, the value in these endorsement deals has come primarily from the public’s largely-baseless perception that Woods is a “good guy,” a guy whose recommendation can be trusted, i.e. “if Tiger says it’s good, it must be good.” If you think about it, that was pretty much a baseless perception even before Woods’ infidelity became a public spectacle because, as I’ve said in the cases of swimmer Michael Phelps and others, it’s a complete fallacy to conclude that a guy’s “a good guy” or trustworthy simply because the guy’s good at a sport. Sure, it might make sense to trust that guy to tell you how to swing a golf club or swim a particular stroke, but unless you know him personally and have a basis for trusting him in general, there’s really no reason to trust him on any other topic. Nevertheless, many Americans do put their trust in athletes’ recommendations simply because those athletes are good at sports, which just illustrates another stupid development in American culture about which I’ve also written repeatedly — a fanatical overemphasis on sports. But be that as it may, now that it’s clear that Tiger’s own wife can’t even trust him, would anyone in his/her right mind trust his recommendation of a good car or even a razor, particularly knowing that he’s been paid millions of dollars to say it’s good? And would any corporate CEO in his/her right mind want to relay his/her company’s message to consumers via a spokesperson who’s widely perceived as a liar? I guess we’ll see — while some sponsors have shelved ad campaigns featuring Woods for the moment, they’re not dropping him in droves like they should be. If consumers and corporations don’t judge this guy to be dishonest and stop following and paying for his recommendations, then the insanity of “nonjudgmentalism” will be perfectly-illustrated.

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