You know the shittuff has hit the proverbial fan when Tiger Woods (i.e., The Lord of the Links) stops driving Buicks because he wants to spend more time with his family:
CHICAGO (Reuters) – General Motors Corp, which has warned that it will run short of cash early next year without support, and popular professional golfer Tiger Woods said on Monday that they would end their endorsement deal at the end of the year.
GM and Woods, who is recovering from reconstructive knee surgery, called the arrangement “mutual and amicable.” They cited a desire by the golfer for more personal time with a second baby due in late winter, as well as a need for GM to cut costs as it struggles with declining demand in the U.S. market.
Yeah, I’ll bet it was amicable. GM probably told Tiger they couldn’t afford to pay him and that they were going to screw him over in their upcoming bankruptcy anyway, and he “decided” it might be a good idea from a pr standpoint to get out in front of that curve. Besides, there will always be a Toyota or a BMW in his future.
Still, when companies start cutting off Tiger Woods’ endorsement money as a cost saving measure, isn’t that just a small sign that the worst of times is yet to come?
The IMF’s chief economist has warned that the global financial crisis is set to worsen and that the situation will not improve until 2010, a report said Saturday. […]
“The worst is yet to come,” Blanchard said in an interview with the Finanz und Wirtschaft newspaper, adding that “a lot of time is needed before the situation becomes normal.”
I think that just may qualify as an understatement.
If cutting Tiger’s endorsement contract is an acceptable cost-saving measure for GM, they were paying Tiger too much in the first place.
And speaking of corporate endorsement deals in this lousy economy, what will become of the $20 million a year for the next 18 years that Citigroup is paying the NY Mets for the rights to their new stadium, Citi Field?
There’s some good use of taxpayer dollars, eh?
I guess it depends on whether Citi survives or not. I’m not convinced that even with a bailout they’ll make it.
Neither am I.
Not in the least.
If cutting Tiger’s endorsement contract is an acceptable cost-saving measure for GM, they were paying Tiger too much in the first place.
My guess would be that this isn’t about the actual raw dollars. This is about “embarrassment for the company”. After having their asses handed to them last week for their PR debacle of taking separate corporate jets to DC, I imagine all of the CEOs went to their CFOs and told them to scan through the books to find any expenditures that would make tasty “scandal” fodder for the 24-hour news cycle.
So my bet would be that canceling Tiger’s contract is just a drop in the bucket as far as the raw dollar amount goes, but the headache it saves the company from having to explain why they’re paying him $X million on the one hand while using the other hand to ask for money from the taxpayers is worth it all on its own.
The car company execs need to be getting smarter about this stuff – they’re finding out that while the banksters’ allies in the media and on the Hill will cover up and excuse their extravagances, the CEOs of the auto companies have no one in their corner. The short-sighted Republicans would love to see our last bastion of middle-class manufacturing jobs destroyed if it means they take the union powerhouse with them – no matter what it does to the country’s economy. This is the destruction of their largest political “enemy” that they’ve been salivating over since Reagan, after all. Meanwhile the Democrats have no real love for the industry execs – and barely seem to care about their own constituents on the factory floor anymore either. And the media loves to bash the car companies – probably for the same reason they make such juicy targets for both Republicans and Democrats.
When did GM eliminate its Public Relations Dept.? I thought that this outfit was GM’s corner man. Guess it too (sigh) is out to lunch. And, you can’t blame this screw up on the unions.
I’ve always thought that celebrity endorsements were more about massaging the egos of corporate execs than about marketing anything. The one case where celeb bullshit might have an effect is in making new products seem more familiar and comfortable. But Woods huckstering for Buicks? Don’t think so. Even American consumers aren’t THAT dumb.
Anyway, the bucks paid to Woods and other endorsers should pay for lots of r&d into products that people actually want. Too bad that’s not where they put their money in the first place.
True. Always nice to be able to set up an outing with Tiger for golf several times a year. Guess that won’t be happening much anymore.
excuse my posting over the top of you, Steven, but we have a new senator from Delaware.
Maybe VW can give up their crappy advertising and give Tiger a deal.
worst is yet to come, because the Treasury is not forcing the banks to lend money and come square with their potential loan losses.
Tells you something about how enormous those loan losses may actually be. Hear those strange sounds coming out of wall street? Those are toxic derivatives gradually making it to the light of day. Hang on to your wallet and your 401’s as well.
Now that we’ve decided to throw a wad of cash at Citibank executives instead of those pesky blue collar union leeches at General Motors I can look forward, once again, to receiving those thrice weekly pre-approved credit offers from Citibank for everything that I have ever wanted in my wildest imaginings…..at only 18.99%. God, how I’ve missed those.
Easy money for everybody!!! ….those were the days, eh Citibank?
Fuck GM, right? They don’t need no stinking money! What the world really needs are more credit cards from Citibank. Then we can all rejoice. It will be the financial Age of Aquarius for everyone!
COME ON EVERYONE….SING WITH ME!!
When the moon is in the seventh house……
Damn it, Mike, you are becoming a veritable cynic. Have you no hope nor trust in our corporate elders? After all their specialty is making money–FOR THEMSELVES!!
But GM is going to go into bankruptcy anyway: It’s the easiest way to shed their obligations (union contracts, pension commitments).
The golden parachutes have already been packed. Only the pink slips remain to be printed.
The useful parts of GM will be saved. It will be interesting to see what they are.