AT&T Kicks Tiger to the Curb

Wherever Tiger Woods is hiding these days – Arizona? California? Florida? – he still can’t escape the fallout from his infidelity scandal. And it seems telecom giant AT&T Inc. (T) wants nothing to do with the now-tarnished image of the world’s greatest golfer. Over the long New Year’s weekend, AT&T made good on speculation that it would follow Accenture’s lead and stop sponsoring Woods.

AT&T and Woods first partnered about five years ago. Their arrangement started with the Tiger Jam concert that raised money for the Tiger Woods Foundation. Woods would give golf clinics to AT&T customers. Then, early last year, AT&T put its logo on Woods’s golf bag after General Motors had to drop the golfer because of its financial problems. AT&T also had the right to use Woods in its ads but had not done so, the Wall Street Journal reported.

That works out well for AT&T since it won’t have to remake ads like Accenture will have to do.

“There is less fallout for AT&T because there is less public awareness of Tiger’s relationship with AT&T,” Kevin Adler, founder and president of Engage Marketing Inc., told the Journal. “You couldn’t walk through an airport without seeing a Tag or Accenture ad with Tiger,” he said.

AT&T would not tell media why it has dropped Woods or share details of its sponsorship arrangement with the golfer.