Nike decides to stick with Tiger Woods after he admits to cheating on his wife with a gaggle of women, only to ditch Lance Armstrong immediately after any indication that he used PED's.
Kevin Adler from Engage Marketing said it best:
Quote:
“Where the line seems to be drawn for Nike, as an authentic sports-performance brand, is when your transgressions are [related] to the integrity of your performance as an elite athlete,” Kevin Adler, founder of Chicago-based marketing agency, Engage Marketing, told us by phone on Thursday. “That’s really an important distinction and a very stark contrast between Nike making the decision to stand by Tiger and choosing to disassociate itself from Lance.”
This makes sense. Lance Armstrong cheated to achieve his success in biking and Tiger Woods did not cheat ... to achieve his success in golf. In one case a crime was committed, not in the other.
But what about Alex Rodriguez? He's an admitted former steroid-user yet NIKE remains faithful to his sponsorship. Here are NIKE's comments in 2009 regarding A-Rod:
Quote:
"Nike does not condone the use of illegal substances in sport and agrees with Alex Rodriguez that they should not be used. We will have no further comment at this time."
And here is what NIKE said about Armstrong:
Quote:
"Due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade, it is with great sadness that we have terminated our contract with him. Nike does not condone the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs in any manner."
So much for consistency.