Tiger Woods' 'sad' Japanese heat rub endorsement

Since Tiger Woods' personal and professional life imploded in the wake of revelations of his numerous affairs, he's lost many of his lucrative endorsement deals, his beautiful wife, and the clean-cut image that had endeared him to fans and sponsors. Now, the fallen golfing great, who has missed recent tournaments due to injuries, and slipped to No. 17 in the world rankings, has scored his first new endorsement deal since the scandal. He's signed on to promote a Japanese heat rub called Antiphlogistic Analgetic Vantelin for the Koa Company, in a commercial that will begin airing in Japan later this month. The "sad" news that the injured, scandal-tarnished golfer is promoting a "heat rub" that relieves joint and muscle pain has some cracking wise. Here, a sampling:

Promotional concerns

"Memo to Kowa Company Ltd. in Japan," says Ben Watanabe at NESN. "If you want to promote a heat rub with pain-relieving properties, it might be better not to choose pitchmen who have missed extended time due to nagging injuries."

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International trade

Tiger's agent says this "foray into Japan shows that Woods is a 'global' star," says Justin Barney at The St. Augustine Record. "Translation: Tiger's so damaged in the States that we couldn't even get him a Kia deal."

Other considerations

"Wait: Tiger Balm wasn't interested?" says Mark J. Miller at BrandChannel.

Product warning

"As if his image wasn't icy-hot enough... " says K Gaz at Lime Life. "We just hope he remembers" the heat rub cream is "for external use only."

Free bonus

"He's off the course due to injuries to his left leg, people still talk about his many mistresses, his beard smells of desperation and, now, the only sponsorship he can seem to land is with a company touting the Japanese version of Ben-Gay," says Ryan Rudnansky at Bleacher Report. But hey, the latter "should give Woods free samplings of the product as he tries to recover."