Tiger Woods Never Watched Batman
“The brighter the picture the darker the negative”, is a wonderful quote from the Batman animated series. Batman is based on the concepts of the shadow – made popular by Carl Jung. Briefly, the theory is that we all have a shadow, and one of our challenges in life is to successfully embrace our shadow. You can see most of the characters of Batman coming to terms with their shadow through the story (Bruce Wayne created his alter ego Batman in response to his deep seated fear of bats – in this regard he has attempted to embrace his shadow).
As we know Tiger Woods, presented a very bright picture indeed, whilst his shadow was running rampant. Tiger always appeared a little to close to perfect for comfort. White shiny smile, lovely wife, professional, well mannered, humble, winner. He really was admired by everyone. However, all was obviously (in hindsight) not well. Tiger was suppressing a shadow as dark as his image was bright. (Consider Tiger to his fellow Gillette TVC star Roger Federer. Roger presents as equally steely and focused, yet we have seen Roger have tearful outbursts, and doses of erratic behaviour throughout his career. Arguably, he is suppressing less.)
The real issue for us was that Tiger Woods was just an image – that’s all. The money sponsors gave him, the love fans showed him was never actually for him – but for a carefully constructed image. And now the image has been shattered. This will become a recurring them in the new world order where there is no place to hide. The ‘image’ and the ‘reality’ of sports stars, movie stars, brands and regular folk will become more interrogated and therefore integrated as access to information and its subsequent documentation becomes omnipresent.
What’s happened to Tiger was just a matter of time. There is no room for a shadow so large if you are in the public spotlight today. Not only did society catch his shadow, they hung it on the line and gave it a public flogging for the world to see. If you have a shadow (and you do), or your brand has a shadow (and it does), embrace it, and deal with it before someone else does it for you.
Note: Thanks to Simon Thatcher for originally teaching me about the shadow and the power it can hold over ones life.
Fritz Bachen is a Consumer Psychologist and Founding Partner at Naked Communications. Fritz can be seen, read or heard at; The Gruen Transfer, ABC Radio (Sunday nights), Adnews columnist, as well as The Australian, Cleo, Mumbrella, Shop Till You Drop and so on. He speaks at numerous conferences on marketing, ideas, contemporary culture, and consumer behaviour. Fritz has degress in clinical psychology and commerce (marketing). A registered psychologist and has worked in private practice, forensic settings, advertising (Saatchi & Saatchi) and marketing consultancy (Added Value). He was also state under 12 chess champion on WA, and has a board game called The Analyst selling well in the Benelux countries.
Comments
Ken
Dec 13th, 2009It seems that often the teenage years of gifted sportspersons revolves around them, and they never adjust to a life where they have to respect others. I really can't see how their marriage can last.
Anonymous
Dec 13th, 2009You can't be serious!
Laura
Dec 13th, 2009"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive…"
Anonymous
Dec 15th, 2009i'm annoyed that his sponsors are pulling him from their campaigns. I find it hard to believe that none of those making these decisions at companies like Nike have never done what Tiger Woods has done. In response to Laura…'before you judge a man, walk a thousand miles in his shoes.' His sponsors should pull their funding and support if they can prove they are guilt free. Fair is fair. And now can we have some REAL news in the 'media'?
Ken
Dec 15th, 2009The point for the sponsors is not whether they are "guilt-free". They are making a commercial decision based on how his endorsement will affect the sales of their products compared to the large sums of money they are paying him.
Anonymous
Dec 16th, 2009Absolutely right Ken. It's about making money…that's all the sponsors care about. No doubt it will eventually make him even more popular once the backlash subsides, and those sponsors will be signing up again.
Marius
Dec 17th, 2009To Anonymous
'before you judge a man, walk a thousand miles in his shoes.'
Bet Nike wouldn't mind us all walking in Tiger's Nikes this season. In the name of righteousness of course.
Btw, I don't think you can compare the sponsors to Tiger. They are not paid a billion dollars to stay true to their public perception of them; a deception created by themselves. Everything is relative, and Tiger's actions must be seen in relation to his public image. John Daly is no saint but still has his fair share of endorsement deals. It's all about authenticity
Anonymous
Dec 17th, 2009Ken totally agree with you. They lose reality quickly
Tim
Dec 17th, 2009Hi Fritz, Nice post. Think some similarities between the 'value action gap'- the difference or gap between the values you communicate and the actions you take. Digital media is holding a big fat magnifying glass over the gap. http://whirledgital.com/2009/12/17/the-value-action-gap-all-marketers-are-smokers/
Fritz Bachen
Jan 7th, 2010Hi all thanks for your comments.
Tim I agree with you about the action gap. Utra transparency will enforce corprations and people to walk the talk.
Also cant believe that some people are annoyed at the sponsars. You're sponsaring an image – and the image is broken. Simple.
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Jan 8th, 2010Never judge a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes. Because then you're a mile away. And you have his shoes.
xl pharmacy
Nov 28th, 2011It's about making money…that's all the sponsors care about. No doubt it will eventually make him even more popular once the backlash subsides, and those sponsors will be signing up again.
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