I’m Not Implying That Anyone at Kellogg’s Has Infidelity Issues. Also, I Love Their Cereals.

Posted on December 18, 2009
Filed Under Daily, Videos | 18 Comments

The Tiger Woods’ scandal really rocked me — I’ll admit it. I’ve never really even liked golf, in fact, when I think of golf, I remember Jerry Seinfeld’s stand-up where he talks about how pointless the sport is. He laughs that anyone would take part in an activity where the point was to hit a ball as far away from you as possible, and then go looking for it. But still, I liked Tiger Woods, even if I wasn’t a golf fanatic. I followed bits and pieces of his career, and I always wanted him to do well.

The Boss and I were talking about why people are so hurt when those in the public eye fail. Why do we feel like they’ve let us down? Our theory is that it’s because we wanted to see them succeed. We cheered them on, and yelled at our television screens, and held our breath while we read about their injuries, and when they’d return to the the court, the field, or the green. But maybe all our support is what has caused so many of our heroes to let us down. Could it be that if they weren’t recognized for their greatness every moment of every day that they would be less likely to crash and burn?

In high-profiled infidelity cases, like Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, and John Edwards, who’s really to blame?

Do we blame the women who aggressively chase after men with money, power and status? Do we blame the men who lack self control, and ignore their family responsibilities, and society’s common moral values? Or do we blame society, people like us? People like me, who would buy The Boss a Gatorade because it had Tiger’s picture on it.

The story I told about the little girl at the basketball game is true. She was cute, yes, but the point is that she didn’t really know until she saw how many times her face showed up on the Jumbo tron. Out of the thousands of people in the arena, she was the only one who repeatedly showed up on the big screen. Even at the tender age of 9 or 10, she realized that it was because there was something special about her: she was extra pretty for a little kid. But the more they shoved her cuteness in her own face, she did what anyone would do — she reacted. From shy sweetheart, hiding in her dad’s shoulder to booty-shakin’, hair-flailing, mouth-open wild child. And yet, you can’t really blame her.

When the Tiger Woods news broke, I was one of the first people who wanted him to lose it all. But I started to wonder if pulling endorsements from Tiger is the right thing for sponsors to do. Let’s say, for the sake of giving an example, that the VP of Kellogg’s (assuming it’s a man) cheated on his wife. Would he lose his job? Would he be fired? Chances are, No. But if any of Tiger’s sponsors drop him, isn’t that essentially like getting fired? So, if the Kellog’s guy cheats, he continues coming to work, and gets to live his cushy little life, but if Tiger Woods cheats, his whole world falls apart? It seems like a double standard. What do you think? Should Tiger’s endorsements be pulled? Do you think the VP of Kellogg’s would be asked to resign, be forced out?

I’m not condoning infidelity, believe me, and in my opinion, infidelity, at any stage of a relationship, is the lowest a person can go, right after hurting a child, or an animal. I wait for that day when the wife of every high-profile man will call her own press conference and say those three beautiful words to the world: I’M LEAVING HIM.
But I’m sure it’s never that easy.

As a society, we idolize people whose talents we appreciate, who’s courage we wish we had. We admire the people who inspire us through the books we read, the blogs we follow, and the documentaries we watch. We have our favorite news personalities, and we support candidates running for office. But maybe if we stopped caring so much, the chances of those people letting us down would lessen. Maybe all of this is really our fault. Maybe we give people too much credit, thus being the first drop of fuel that ultimately fans a fire of inflated egos which becomes too wild to contain. But to say that the solution to this problem is that we can no longer admire those worth admiring seems unfair.

But the explanations filled with hundreds of words can be summed into a few. Like my father-in-law says, “It’s okay to have heroes. But who are they? We need to re-evaluate the people we hold to such a high esteem. The only real heroes are the one who lived and died as heroes.”

Comments

18 Responses to “I’m Not Implying That Anyone at Kellogg’s Has Infidelity Issues. Also, I Love Their Cereals.”

A on December 18th, 2009 10:47 am

This is one of the things that amazes me to this day – how come “ordinary” people become so obsessed with celebrities. Yes, we see them in movies or TVs or games but they are out there doing their job just like the next engineer, doctor, teacher, or janitor. Why do we give the celebs so much more importance that the ones that actually help run our lives better? Without the “ordinary” jobs our lives would not be as luxurious as it is. We hype up the celebs to make them feel important, celebrate when they succeed, and then criticize them when they fail. But if someone like our mothers/fathers do the same to us (celebrate when we succeed and then criticize us when we fail) we tell them to not get into our business. Double standards for sure!
fatima on December 18th, 2009 10:57 am

loved how you ended this video hahahaha
Muslim Girl on December 18th, 2009 11:39 am

I agree with everything you said – except one thing, which was the relation between dropping sponsors for Tiger and firing the Kellog’s Exec.

The way I see it, the Kellog’s Exec has built an empire around his hard work… he comes to work earlier than his employees and leaves later than them, and when the business triumphs it’s because of the decisions HE’S made. Tiger Woods on the other hand gets paid millions to have his smile plastered on various products. He doesn’t wake up and go work for them, so to say that he’s on the same level as an Exec is a stretching it a little bit. You can get another sponsor, but you can’t get another figure to lead a multi-billion dollar company with the same level of knowledge/experience/success.

He deserves to be dropped b/c the conditions of a sponsor say that you have to represent the company’s values. If you don’t, then tough luck.

All the other points you mention are right on, though!
Slice of Lemon on December 18th, 2009 11:59 am

Hi Muslim Girl. Very good point!

But just like the VP of Kellogg’s, Tiger worked very, very hard to get to where he is in his career today, which is why companies like Nike want his face on their products — to promote and sell. It’s like Oprah recommending a book.

The VP of Kellogg’s isn’t at the top, so technically he could be let go. Should he be? Since the goings-on at Kellogg’s will never be headline news it’s easier to sweep the VP’s indiscretions under the rug, don’t you think? Though I’m sure people who work under the VP would be saddened to hear the news. It’s natural to feel disappointed when anyone you look up to (famous or not) lets you down.

Shouldn’t the conditions set forth to represent Kellogg’s, or Nike, or the school a teacher teaches at be the same? (Honesty, integrity, etc.) Or is sponsorship very different than direct employment?

Would love to hear your thoughts.
Ayesha on December 18th, 2009 12:45 pm

I get your point: TW is in the spotlight and that’s he’s getting essentially “fired” from his sponsers. To compare TW with a VP though, you must put them in situations equally critical to their job contracts. For a VP to cheat wouldn’t even hit the news, however if he were to swindle the company of trillions of dollars, he’d probably be fired without recommendations. His cheating wouldn’t effect the company image, but his swindling the money would.
Similarly, asking for ridiculous amounts of compensation for putting his smile on a bottle probably wouldn’t put TW in hot water because that doesn’t effect the sponsor’s company image.
Crystal? =)
Ayesha on December 18th, 2009 1:37 pm

As for whether I think it’s fair what’s happening to him, in it’s way yes. Everyone pays for their mistakes in ways that are tragic only to them.
“With fame comes responsibility”, I thought they taught this in cartoons!
Jen on December 18th, 2009 2:48 pm

LMAO.

At your “thang” not Tiger’s “thang” cause what he did wasn’t funny.
Justize on December 18th, 2009 3:49 pm

A.. i agree w/you. Society puts these people on pedastals.. treat them as though they are special or better than ordinary working folks.. and THEY ARE NOT. So whether its Tiger E. Woods or Joe Blow..we WILL all have to answer to ” ONE ”
Sarah on December 18th, 2009 4:36 pm

Tigers JOB is to have a clean image, and keep up a good wholesome outlook of himself. thats what he gets paid for, to be GOOD. Yes, he go there by talents and hard work in his field, but the sponsorships arent for his hard work only, its for the image he represents.

Tiger is THE BRAND, a VP of Kellogg isnt the brand, hes just another person behind the label. His face isnt on every cereal box.

Unfortunately for Tiger he got busted.
CF98 on December 18th, 2009 5:45 pm

I don’t buy anything because a celeb endorses it I buy it because I like the product nothing more nothing less.

That being said I do find it hypocritical that a lot of these execs probably have side chicks themselves and are dropping Tiger because of how bad it looks and I get it but like I said double standard. With that in mind if he wins again he can get endorsements again look at Kobe Bryant as an example.

Personally his cheating is of no issue to me its between him and his family and I don’t consider infidelity the same as hurting a child because hurting a child is probably a crime in most cases. Infidelity is not if you don’t want to be with a cheater leave that simple.
nihad on December 18th, 2009 7:07 pm

i agree with A.. we cant stand criticism from our loving parents but we r the first 2 criticize celebs people just coz we have a media given right to ?? in india its the cricketers who r made demigods.. one lost match n its all over… what tiger did was wrong so what? its for his family to sort out… i believe “let him who is without sin, throw the first stone”
Jasmine on December 19th, 2009 8:22 am

The whole reason he gets these huge, lucrative advertising contracts is because he is someone that people look up to. When he’s not that anymore, why pay him thousands?
Constructive Attitude on December 19th, 2009 10:02 am

wow i never really thought of golf like that. where you hit a ball as far as possible and then go and look for it. haha.

really well said. (the entire post..lol)
Tooba on December 19th, 2009 11:52 am

LOLLL at the ending.

How’ve you tied your hijab in this videoooo?? Staring at it is not helping me figure it out :/
Urooba on December 20th, 2009 3:59 am

OMG, I just discovered you today… and I am so very glad I did!
I wanna read sliceoflemon ALL DAY LONG.
It’s 4 am now, and sleep is the only darned thing holding me back from reading EVERYTHING on this site!

I AM SO FOLLOWING YOU.
You’re so inspiring and pretty!
Imma rock earrings with my hijab now, fo sho.
fatima on December 20th, 2009 5:43 pm

wow what an interesting chain,I guess when your in the public -as Cat Stevens was told on the Colbert report- the public owns you,we saw how Bill Clinton was getting impeached for his drama as well,his sponsors are dropping him cuz he did something terrible no matter which way we look at it,
which makes him the bad guy in the public,
noone wants the bad guy to represent their brand,its nothing personal just business…
what I don’t get is why not just stay single and have fun,why get married and then all the drama…
Smucks on December 21st, 2009 6:53 pm

CP and I just read your blog and LOL.We agree that fan and media attention makes celebraties arrogant and commit “blunders”.
Cover your head, wiggle your toes on December 21st, 2009 9:16 pm

Goodness! Sabrina- the last part of the video I laughed so hard I almost woke up the baby!