As June 11 fast approaches, I get more and more excited about football, fun, and beers!  I love the World Cup and always have. There’s an energy in the air that is so palpable and a buzz that stays with you for a full thirty days.

With the arrival of the World Cup comes a plethora of brand promotions and initiatives, which are inevitably a fly or a flop.  Just yesterday I saw Nike’s “epic” three minute spot starring Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Didier Drogba.  I must confess that I really don’t enjoy this spot at all. I don’t even know if I can accurately convey the plotline (after having watched it twice, once with sound and once without…).  It goes a little something like this, the football stars line up for key shots in the tournament, miss them, are mocked and made fun of.  Then, in a serious plot twist, it turns out to be some kind of terrible dream. In reality they score! Somewhere in all this mess, Rooney grows an unseemly beard and lives in a trailer, Homer Simpson opens the door to a Portugal stud and Gael Garcia Bernal plays Cristiano Ronaldo. 

Only a week after his public address, admitting to his infidelities, Tiger Woods has been dropped by Gatorade.  Pepsico is following in the footsteps of two other large endorsers of the golfer, AT&T and Accenture which both ended long standing relationships with Woods. 

Nike, Woods' largest sponsor, plans to continue supporting Tiger, clearly taking a different strategy and approach to the whole debacle. 

Accenture led the way in dropping the golfer back in 2009; Woods' infidelities and integrity came into question which are clearly two essential components to the brand identity of a company like Accenture.  However, I'm having a hard time understanding how a sports drink finds it's mission and brand so misaligned with Tiger? Or, are they simply wanting to disassociate themselves from "bad" morals?  Is this kind of moral judgement acceptable or appropriate from a huge multinational corporation?  Do company's have to justify why they make these choice, or are they entitled to act in their own interest without any level of transparency?

All interesting questions to ask ourselves and to discuss as a society. 

As the ball continues to roll against Tiger, even months after the initial revelations were made about the golfer, it also gets me thinking about the conservative values and mindset of our society.  Is it ok for this man to be publicly condemned for his actions? Or is he just a man who cheated on his wife, like so many others?

I ask you, is infidelity so unforgivable that public humiliation and financial condemnation is just an eventuality?  Or is this all part of being in the public eye?  Is Gatorade dropping Woods just a plain business decision or is it more than that - a reflection on our society's values and beliefs?

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fBsAZdel1I 400x400]