Nike has begun to air a television commercial that features the voice of Tiger Woods’ late father Earl Woods as the golfer prepares to return to the sport at the Masters Tournament in Georgia.
The black-and-white video ad has a stark-looking Tiger Woods looking into the camera, listening to the voice of his late father.
In the video, the late Earl Woods is heard saying, “Did you learn anything?” and talking about taking responsibility.
Earl Woods passed away in May 2006. He had been a U.S. Army officer and a college baseball player, and trained Tiger Woods on golf from a very early age. He has been largely credited for Woods’ success.
Tiger Woods shied away from the public spotlight in November 2009 shortly after reports of his martial infidelity first began to surface, but he came out in public in early 2010, apologizing in public to his wife and his fans, and talking about how he had strayed from his family values and the tenets of his religion.
The Nike ad is the first television ad in many months for Tiger Woods, and it is not entirely unsurprising that the timing of Woods’ return to TV ads corresponds to his return to professional golf.
After reports of Woods’ marital infidelities began to emerge in November 2009, large sponsors such as Accenture and AT&T started dropping him from their advertising one after another.
Nike has been one of the major companies that has stuck with Tiger Woods. On the eve of the 2010 Masters Tournament, Nike released a statement saying, “We support Tiger and his family.”
