All for car recovery

Where's Tiger on TV? His ads have been jerked

09.12.09

Gatorade is discontinuing its Tiger Woods drink but says it made the decision before the golfer's car accident led to a media firestorm surrounding his personal life.</p><p>Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal, citing data from Nielsen Co., reported today that advertisers haven't aired TV commercials featuring Woods since shortly after the scandal broke.</p><p>Bloomberg News said late Tuesday that marketers have pulled all Tiger Woods ads from prime-time television broadcast networks and 19 cable channels following reported extramarital affairs.</p><p>As the scandal continues to unfold and additional allegations pour out, there's no doubt that Woods' sponsors are meeting to decide how to move forward.</p><p>For Woods, the stakes are huge. He is projected to surpass $1 billion in career earnings by 2010, 90% of which will have come from endorsements.</p><p>One phrase that is being tossed around is "morals clause." </p><p>While Woods' alleged behavior may be morally objectionable to many, that has nothing to do with how "moral" may be legally defined in his various contracts.</p><p>Fernando Pinguelo, a lawyer who has written about morals clauses, told Business Insider that, like all contract negotiations, the "leverage the 'talent' has in a particular deal," as well as the capabilities of his agent, will direct what the clause says. </p><p>Woods had maximum bargaining power and top-tier representatives.</p><p>Though he has not seen any of Woods' contracts, Pinguelo speculated that any morals clause would be quite forgiving -- such that the clause would only be triggered in the event of a felony conviction. </p><p>While morals clauses can be very broad -- prohibiting, for example, actions violating "societal norms" -- there is zero chance that is what Woods' contracts say, Pinguelo predicted.</p><p>Michael McCann, a sports-law expert at the Mississippi College of Law, said many athletes and agents are probably watching the situation closely. </p><p>If advertisers had tried to drop him immediately for actions many athletes might themselves participate in, the companies could have had difficulty securing endorsement deals with big-shot athletes in the future.</p><p>The decision to drop the Gatorade drink, called Tiger Focus, was first reported by trade publication Beverage Digest in an issue dated Nov. 25, two days before the incident at Woods' home in Florida. The publication's editor, John Sicher, said he learned of the decision the week of Nov. 9.</p><p>| Keith Robison, The Star, compiled from wire reports

Source: Kansas City Star