New Tiger Woods Nike Ad Called "Creepy," "Disturbing"

New Tiger Woods Nike Ad Called “Creepy,” “Disturbing”.   Tiger Woods is trying to make amends with the world as he gets back in to the game, and Nike is trying to profit off of it. A new 30-second TV spot for the brand features a close-up on Woods wearing the famous Nike check logo as only the voice of his deceased father, Earl Woods, plays.  ”I want to find out what your thinking was,” says Earl Woods, who died in 2006, in the ad, while Woods stares into the camera silently. “I want to find out what your feelings are. And, did you learn anything?”    The recording appears as if his deceased father is addressing his son about his recent sex scandal, even heavier considering his father’s alleged history of infidelity and their extremely close relationship. The Earl Woods audio was taken from an authorized DVD biography of Tiger Woods released in 2004. The ad, which aired Wednesday on ESPN and the Gold Channel, has been called everything from exploitative to creepy. “Most of the people I’ve talked to and in a lot of the stuff I’ve read, the word ‘creepy’ is the word that comes up the most,” Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University, told the Washington Post. “It’s one thing to bring Dad’s advice in, another to do an apology. To mix this whole thing into a Nike ad really strikes me as really bizarre.”   Plenty of viewers agree that they find the ad disturbing, considering how Wood’s now-deceased father’s words have been taken out of context for and how it seems that the golf star is now making money off of his recent affairs.   “What’s really disturbing about the ad, though, is how normal it seems for a shoe company to make a commercial addressing an athlete’s sex life,” Hampton Stevens of The Atlantic said.    A recent survey found ad viewers saying they felt “confusion,” “skepticism,” “sadness,” and “disturbed” following a viewing of the spot. Others, so offended by the clip, are swearing off purchasing Nike products altogether. But the brand says they are sticking by the ad.   “We support Tiger and his family,” said Nike in a statement. “As he returns to competitive golf, the ad addresses his time away from the game using the powerful words of his father.”