Procter & Gamble's Gillette has decided to end its backing with Tiger Woods.
According to Michael Norton, ‘Gillette’ and Tiger Woods will be parting ways after 2010 ends. The announcement was made by the Gillette’s spokesperson, Norton, on Thursday after an interview to a well-known news source.
The endorsement is reported to end on the 31 December as a consequence of which Procter & Gamble will be terminating its Champions marketing campaign. The campaign was scheduled for the first cut up of the upcoming New Year.
Except, this isn’t just Woods and Gillette parting ways, the company has also decided to cut ties with the famous soccer players Thierry Henry, Kaka, Rafa Marquez and Lionel Messi. As for sustained deals, the men’s grooming company will still be backing
Derek Jeter, Roger Federer and Alexander Ovechkin from tennis, the New York Yankees and NHL.
According to Woods’ agent, the earlier decision is because Gillette has decided to end its ‘Champions’ campaign. In an email to the same source, Mark Steinberg said that the contract will be ending at the end of this year and said that the deal will not
be continued further because Gillette’s campaign is ending.
Along with Gillette, Gatorade has also planned to end sponsorship deal with Woods.
However, there are still eight sponsors that have not entered the infidelity cult. Nike Golf, Upper Deck, EA Sports, Tag Heuer, NetJets, TLC Laser Eye Centres, Golf Digest and the Tiger Woods Dubai Resort thus plan to stand by the golfer who was recently
divorced by wife Elin Nordegren and lost the world number one position in world golf ranking.
"One must be very careful with his/her reputation because once you smudge it, the return is quite difficult. It's a great lesson for every athlete,” said Mike Paul.
Gives you chills doesn’t it? But where many grieve over the Tiger’s slow fall, Jim Nantz thinks otherwise.
“It’s not like he isn’t going to come back. 2011 is approaching fast and with a New Year, I think Tiger is ready to display a fresh start” The CBS lead golf announcer predicted.
Woods is still included in the top 50 highest earning athletes and despite Gillette’s absence, the 34-year-old golfer will still be making more dollars than most of the golfers around.
“He’ll probably pull down $55 million to $60 million from the endorsements alone” CNBC sports business reporter Darren Rovell said on Thursday.
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