Last December after Tiger Woods’ admission of infidelity, Procter & Gamble’s Gillette said it would distance itself from the golfer while maintaining its “existing marketing programs.” That included pulling 30-second ads featuring him in U.S. television efforts. As of 12/23 Gillette officially dropped Woods from its marketing and advertising campaigns, according to USA Today—after a contract that began in 2007. The official contract drop day is 12/31.
Dumping Woods and other athletes from its endorsement rolls was part of the razor giant’s overall plan to ratchet down its Gillette Champions marketing strategy, spokesperson Michael Norton told Game On!. Gillette continues to showcase other athletes, including baseball great Derek Jeter and tennis star Roger Federer. Tiger also helped to launch the Gillette Fusion Power Gamer razor.
Woods has also lost PepsiCo’s Gatorade, Accenture and AT&T.
RBR-TVBR observation: We think that part of the reason Woods was also pulled was the fact that he isn’t the golfer he used to be. Call it a “distancing,” “moratorium” or whatever you will, but if Woods was on top again, we doubt you would be reading this story. It’s not all about the sex scandal with advertisers now.
