Take Tiger Woods for example, after the sex scandals came out, he lost millions of dollars in endorsements and is still trying to get his reputation (and his game) back. Although Tiger may not ever fully get all his reputation ( or endorsements) back other athletes like NBA all-star Kobe Bryant have done a great job with rebuilding their image and managing their reputation.I know we all remember Kobe Bryant's sexual assault case in 2003. Here was the NBA's "chosen one" arrested for a sexual assault case. Like Tiger, Kobe lost the majority of his endorsements and his bright future suddenly turned into a possible dark cell. But what Kobe did well, and where Tiger went wrong from a public relations point of view is how he handled the media afterwards. After word got out of Kobe's sexual assault case, Kobe held a press conference and apologized to his fans, his wife, and even the woman involved in the sexual assault case. Kobe came out holding his wife's hand and his apology seemed sincere.
Tiger on the other hand looked more like a robot reading off of a script during his apology. He came out with reading cards and was emotionless. If anything he tried to force emotion and in my opinion, was totally insincere. As you can see Tiger hasn't been the same since. Since the sexual assault case, Kobe regained major endorsements, like Nike, Spalding, and Coca-Cola, and won a couple more NBA championships and two final MVP awards. Oh yeah...and he got his image back. Maybe Kobe could lend some advice to Tiger on how to get back on top...Tiger may even want to hire Kobe's public relations specialist.
