The Public Apology: Was Tiger’s PR Team Successful?
If you turned on a television, radio, or computer this morning you probably noticed that Tiger Woods was making his highly anticipated first public statement since, well, all chaos broke out in his personal life and his reputation was tarnished – majorly. This very public first appearance was calculated, thought out, and had specific goals, but was Tiger successful?
His thorough apology to just about everyone was expected, but the task for him was to do more than just read an apology. He needed to start winning fans back. While, yes, his family is more important and he did talk about them, they weren’t who he was speaking to today and he doesn’t need a live CNN feed to reach them. Given the severity of his actions and the length of time that has elapsed since Thanksgiving, he wasn’t going to convince everyone that he is really, truly sorry and that he’s definitely on the road to recovery in 14 minutes. Very similar to regaining trust, today needed to be the start to a long road of recovery. In order for Tiger to successfully start winning people back he needed to:
- Not say anything anyone could question
- Show emotion that people could sympathize with
- Give enough information about the past so people can start forgetting about it
- Make concrete statements about the future
Was Tiger successful in beginning to regain some respectability? I think so. He touched on and apologized to every group of people that would care: fans, his foundation, children, etc. He spoke emotionally about his family and gave concrete examples of how this has impacted their lives. He took complete
responsibility for his actions and provided insight into why they happened. He also talked about the future and what he thinks will lead to change.
Was Tiger sincere? Is he really going to “regain his balance and be centered?” Only time will tell.
Stephanie, Tiger could’ve used your checklist while he was crafting his speech! He succeeded on all points EXCEPT the emotion part – I think he failed miserably there. He needed to show some deference, but instead he came off a bit awkward and as a disciplinarian.
While I watched Tiger I kept wondering when he was going to stop reading and start communicating. He was stiff and did not express emotion enough for me to buy in. I didn’t need tears, just some genuine feeling. It didn’t work for me.
Beyond the idea that it was long overdue, there was really no emotion. I felt as if he was reading from a script and not really letting his words come from the heart. I truly respect him as a player and will continue to be fan as will many others, but I do agree with you that only time will tell.