Father's Day Tributes to the Deceased

Last weekend, lots of Father's Day ads ran, but two stuck out from the crowd. Both were from big-time U.S. advertisers and both paid tribute to the deceased fathers of some well-known sports figures.

Nike rolled out a tribute to the late Earl Woods, who passed away very recently. In fact, last weekend's U.S. Open was Tiger Wood's first event since the death of his father. The ad featured old pictures and home movies of Tiger and his dad. Pretty touching stuff.

Budweiser, who I'm absolutely sick of writing about, paid homage to the three generations of Earnhardt family racers during Sunday's NASCAR race. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. also drove a car with a throw-back paint scheme in honor of his father and grandfather. (Maybe I should put a moratorium on all things Budweiser like many other blogs have done for CP+B. They just turn out so much high-profile stuff, making it so easy to comment.)

What's interesting is the difference in stature of the men being honored. Dale Earnhardt is an institution and will never be forgotten. Earl Woods was a good man who helped his son become the best golfer in the world and got a lot of attention in the process. However, he is by no means legendary.

In my opinion, this makes Nike's tribute to him all the sweeter. It's easy to honor an iconic figure. It's much more inspirational and meaningful to pay tribute to a regular guy who helped his son become extraordinary.