Tiger can't be happy about losing his lucrative endorsement deals, however I'm sure he WILL be happy to see he has been dumped by most of the weekly celebrity magazines already. Even if the reason why is very disturbing.
Sources with access to weekly sales numbers tell me that figures for last week's issues of In Touch, OK! and US Weekly, which all featured Tiger on their covers, were well below average. Only People, whose cover featured a sad looking Mrs. Woods, sold well.
In the magazine business once a celebrity has a bad week they are banished to a far away land. Which in Jennifer Lopez's case was New Jersey.
At first glance this would explain why you wont be seeing Tiger grinning at you from the checkout at the supermarket this weekend (with the exception of cheeky Star magazine, whose genius photo department found a shot of the golfer with his arm around that old cover favorite: Jessica Simpson).
But the bigger question is why didn't Tiger sell better on the newsstands in the first place? Why didn't his troubles become the new Kate and Jon Gosselin, who set a record for being on the cover of US Weekly seven weeks in a row?
Dan Wakeford, Editor-in-Chief of Life and Style, the only magazine smart enough not to jump into the Tiger story as its main cover, told me, "Readers were involved in the whole Gosselin family and invested in the world they'd invited us into, but with Tiger they barely know any personal details about him and his family."
Excellent points Mr. Wakeford but could there be another reason for Tiger's poor sales?
Richard Spencer, Editor-in-Chief of the powerhouse weekly In Touch, agrees. "The reason why Tiger isn't a Jon and Kate for the weeklies is because Jon and Kate were seen on TV weekly. Readers tire quickly of cheating just as they did with Jon's alleged affairs too."
And while I agree with both editors, another editor, who asked to remain anonymous, told me something much more alarming: "With the exception of Oprah, no African-American sells magazine covers. Period. If Tiger were a white dude with this crazy messed-up, never-ending drama, the tabloids would be in heaven. They couldn't print magazines fast enough to keep up with demand."
This reminds me of a similar debate that occurred last year when Jay-Z was noticeably absent from all covers when he married Beyonce. At the time, US magazine's then editor-in-chief Janice Min confessed, "typically, you will hear that discussion [African American celebrities not selling magazines] among a group of all-white editors." A group that now sits at the top of every single weekly masthead.
I hope I'm wrong. I hope Star's playful editor Candace Trunzo is right when she says, "Kate and Jon who? The same thing will happen with Tiger." It just seemed to happen awfully fast to me.
Blame it on the incessant news coverage of this story! We're all so sick of the 24/7 coverage that we get through tv, radio, Internet, Twitter, Google that by the time the magazines came out on the stands, we were so over it. What sleazy detail is left to know?!
When news of the first mistresses leaked, it was intriguing. But now, it no longer matters whether there are 10 or 20 or 30 of them. We get the picture! Athlete lets success go to his head, makes risky and foolish choices, and it costs him everything: family, friends, career, business connections and reputation.
Couldn't it have been because he was asian?
After all there are far fewer asian celebrities than blacks.
Quick, name a prominent asian american.
I bet its not as easy as naming a prominent african american
In my house, we recycle mags, and we, being African American tend to love the covers with blacks on them more than whites. When we have a stack and they're all read, we pass them along.
I live in a very sports-oriented family and community and I know many rabid Tiger Woods fans. I doubt most of them have ever heard of US, OK, or In Touch. Flop down in front of the TV and watch Larry King talk about Tiger Woods, absolutely. Buy a tab? Maybe People, at the airport, but the others, not likely. The specific readership demographic for celebrity magazines does not define a golfer -- even the most famous golfer in the world -- as one of their "celebrities," black, white, or in between.
First of all, he's half asian. He's only a quarter black.
So what does that say?
What else is new?
I still think he's a brilliant sportsman, talented and has done extrememly well for himself as a self-made man. I remember seeing him play Adam Scott in Troon, Scotland - Woods' focus and game was impeccable.
His penchant for women who are not his wife, is frankly his own business.
Think about it- have you EVER seen a black woman on the cover of a bridal magazine? It's so lily-white, you'd think blacks don't even get married, they are so poorly represented. Therein lies the reason people of different groups want their own publications, and channels, etc. If the mainstream does not include them, there is no other option.
I'm not sure how it plays for a sports figure, though, since so many are considered mainstream already. That could play a part in why mags with Tiger's wife sold, and others didn't, or it might not. Or it could be that people prefer to read stories about the victim - his wife, and the mistresses. Oh wait, they are all white too.