It was to be expected that all the fuss about Tiger Woods’ “transgressions” would have a financial fall-out somehow. Consultancy firm Accenture has severed their 6-year ties with the golf star, and Gilette will limit Woods’ marketing presence. The public image of Mr. Perfect has been tarnished, and endorsement deals based on this images have been, and probably will be, pulled.

I find the whole public mud-slinging a far from elegant feature of the American society, which has become all celebrity-crazed and media-horny. (more…)

The power of association. Product placement certainly ain’t dead yet.

In the second hour of last Sunday’s Celebrity Apprentice Donald Trump had Team Kotu and Team Athena working on new meals for Schwan’s (a fast food delivery service). The next day, Schwans was at the top of phrases searched for, according to Google Trends. The products that both teams created are for sale online, at least for the time being. The items may be pulled once the Celebrity Apprentice season is over, as all three featured products only have one rating. And based on her remark during the show, I suspect that those ratings may come from Ivanka Trump herself (“I don’t think my dad will eat it, but I might.”).

The two-hour show was again more about the celebrity feuds than the challenges or the charities that benefited from the winning project manager. Country singer Clint Black pulled another two one-man shows, poker player Annie Duke went cut-throat on her poker pal Phil Hellmuth when opposing team’s Natalie Gulbis tried to get him to bid on jewelry items for her team and Joan Rivers, who overheard this conversation, called Annie two-faced and compared her to Hitler, who apparently also had his good moments. All of these can be “enjoyed” for at least another week, as Natalie Gulbis and Herschel Walker were the ones packing their bags.

Previous winner Pierce Morgan, now one of Donald Trump’s “eyes and ears”, said that this board room battle was way worse than the quarrels that he himself had with Amarosa. Pierce is all over YouTube again because of overnight British singing housewife sensation Susan Boyle’s performance on Britain’s Got Talent, with Pierce Morgan, Amanda Holden and Simon Cowell as stunned judges.

Pierce could also not understand why Jesse James had not used his wife Sandra Bullock’s contacts for the fundraiser, but Jesse replied that he doesn’t mix “business with pleasure”. Donald Trump had his own thoughts on why Jesse James was married to Sandra Bullock at all; according to him Jesse must be good in bed? O-K…

Not much online yet on YouTube for this episode, except maybe for Jesse James’ chili fart:

Mor eabout Celebrity Apprentice on NBC.