There truly is big risk in "one man brands."

Following up on the Tiger Woods story - good piece in NYT on the relationship - or should I say former relationship - between Tiger and Accenture, the big consulting firm that invested big in Tiger. While most of the other sponsors are "standing by" Accenture is the first to withdraw completely.

Chrysler responds to criticism over Italian-made 300 spot.

We get pretty prickly here in the U.S. when we taxpayers bail out a major U.S. automaker, then find out they’re spending money with an Italian ad agency to create ads for the 300 instead of putting some bucks back in the home economy. Well, just when we all thought, “here goes another Chrysler blunder” a peek at the Carscoop blog reveals the automaker has set the record straight.

Olivier Francois, President and Chief Executive Officer - Chrysler Brand, Chrysler Group LLC and Lancia Brand, Fiat Group Automobiles, submitted a letter in response to the AdvertisingAge article, stating basically that the spot didn’t cost them a penny and they have, in fact, hired a U.S. shop to handle new creative and media executions.

I wonder what Lee Iacocca thinks about all this.

Tiger sponsors have no choice but to "stand by."

As the hubbub over the Tiger Woods scandal continues in the background, a couple of his endorsement partners have put together statements that are politically correct, but so predictable, they almost seem unnecessary. Gillette said Saturday it would be "limiting" golfer Tiger Woods' role in its marketing programs. They say this is to give him the privacy he needs to work on family relationships after disclosures of his "infidelity." Further, Gillette says it supports Woods' decision to take "an indefinite break" from professional golf.

This is priceless. What other option do they have? Woods has put every one of these companies – Nike, Gillette, Gatorade, Tag Heuer, AT&T and I’m not sure how many others – in a real pickle. And now he decides the best thing to do is sit it out while all of professional golf suffers in the vacuum.

On his Web site Friday, Woods admitted to infidelity and said he was taking a break from the sport to focus on his family. Again, politically correct. So where does that leave the sponsors? Do they “cut and run” (to use a tired old W-ism)? Do they “stand by their man” (to use an even more tired Tammy W-ism)? Gee, we’ve put millions behind this guy’s image, and now, guess what – he really is an oversexed egomaniac after all! Golly, we didn’t see that coming. How dumb we must be!

Nope, aint gonna happen. So now their only option is to “stand by.”