Tiger Woods sure is having a really bad time of late.

Of course, everyone now knows the trouble he’s had with his wife because of his serial infidelity — and his wife has redefined the use of a golf club.

But more than the bump on the head and the humiliation that followed suit, Tiger Woods’ reputation has been tarnished and this is affecting his bottomline. How? His endorsements are now jeopardized.

Companies hire celebrities and sports superstars to hawk their products because they want to ride on these people’s reputation and image. The better the image, the better the effect of the endorsements. Tiger’s troubles are not helping his reputation at all and the companies that hired him are realizing that they should cut their losses as soon as a possible. Accenture has already announced that they have ended their relationship with the superstar golfer. Gillette has also released a statement that they have suspended his endorsement deal.

Woods’ troubles means lost revenues for him and maybe, just maybe, companies will also realize that putting their reputations at stake by hiring people is not really a good strategy.

Golf champion Tiger Woods no longer represents global consulting and technology services firm Accenture, as of December 13. Accenture is the first of Woods’ corporate sponsors to pull out of the relationship completely. A day earlier, Gillette announced a suspension of Woods’ marketing appearances for an unspecified period.

For anyone missing two weeks of headlines, here’s a recap. Golf champion Woods crashed his car near his Florida home after what appeared to be a major league (oops, wrong sport) fight with his wife over alleged infidelities. At first Woods denied any marital misconduct, using the first line of defense of many public figures caught in a sand trap, which was to lie about it. Then other women surfaced with firm evidence of Woods’ affairs, for a total of 13, and Woods told the world that he had made mistakes. On December 11, he announced he is taking a mega-mulligan — a leave of absence from golf to repair his marriage.

Though Accenture doesn’t sell anything to consumers, it put itself in the public eye with its “Go ahead, be a Tiger” ad campaign. Working for Accenture since 2004, Woods seemed a plausible long-term choice. His consistently stellar athletic achievements and mixed racial heritage symbolize the best of a global economy. Now his departure could mark a seismic shift in corporate branding and marketing approaches.

To any art patron, the names of Jean Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol are enough to illicit excitement. The artworks of two of the world’s most talented post-modern artists are highly sought after and the moment any of their works are put up for sale, it’s sure to get sold immediately.

That is, if there’s no global financial crisis to worry about. In a recent auction held at Christie’s New York, artworks by both Basquiat and Warhol were left unsold. It sounds unprecendented to me especially since these are pieces that would usually command great prices and a feeding frenzy from art patrons around the world. Basquiat and Warhol not selling just means that even the filthy rich are also working on a budget right now. I dunno if this realization makes me feel better or bad.

Because of the shrinking Japanese economy brought about the global financial crisis, the Japanese are now beginning to feel the pinch and are making some drastic changes in their lifestyle — namely, scrimping up on luxury brands.

Japan’s economy has shrunk by 5.7 percent this year and because of this spending on luxury items in the country is likely to drop to 14 percent or $28. billion from a high of $22 billion in 2005 and 2006.

The Japanese are very brand conscious and most of the top-tier designer brands in the world have flagship stores in Japan. But because of the belt tightening measures that everybody seems to be doing, the Japanese are doing it to. They’re probably not using Gucci belts for their own belt tightening.

Analysts think that this downtrend will continue for a couple more years, which now means the Japanese will have to forego their Chanels and Vuittons for a few more years.

If there’s one piece of tech gadgetry that is expected to grow significantly over the next couple of years it will be the e-book reader.

Despite what many people say are the underperforming features of the current crop of readers, it is still not deterring consumers from buying them. In fact, it is expected that millions of consumers will be buying these readers this Christmas season. Forrester Research has also raised the 2009 estimates for the US sales for readers by 50 percent. The Forrester people also mentioned that sales may even double next year.

It will be interesting to find out if Amazon’s Kindle will maintain is new leadership status for in the market or whether Sony will be able to become resurgent and kick up sales again.

One thing’s for sure, these readers might finally entice people to read. Nothing changes attitudes more than being part of the “in-crowd”.

I still remember the horror stories parents recounted when Tickle Me Elmo arrived in stores and became THE TOY to to give during that Christmas season. I’ve read about parents getting into fisticuffs trying to fight over the annoying little red muppet (yes, i’m NOT A FAN).

The nightmare is about to return.

Elmo Tickle Hands, a $29.99 new toy from Mattel, produces sounds and phrases from the Sesame Street character and will become the toy that your kids will badger you about for Christmas. Elmo toys have been known to be sought after toys even when it was being retailed at a higher price point. Now that Mattel has addressed consumer requests for lower priced toys, expect these Tickle Hands to be transformed into boxing gloves as parents scamble to get them when it is finally released.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Vacation timeshares started becoming popular in the 1970s because it’s a great way of spending a vacation without paying too much.

But even a “budget” level vacation option is getting a drubbing because of the recession. According to the American Resort Develpment Association, timeshares sales may drop by 30 percent this year, compared to sales figures posted last year. The Association also said that selling timeshares will be a big challenge for the next 18 months.

I think that these are obvious conclusions. With so many people defaulting on their mortgages and losing jobs, buying a timeshare in some vacation locale is just a bad decision. Timeshares are considered “perpetual vacations” and with everyone scrambling to save every precious dollar, vacations should be farthest on their minds.

The Beatles is the most successful band of all time and by all accounts the best selling band, too. I think someone made a survey or study and found out that the Fab Four made a gazillion dollars from the sales of their albums.

And now, more than thirty years after The Beatles released its last album, the Fab Four is about to rake in millions for The Beatles’ current owners of its music rights.

According to reports, Viacom — the publisher of The Beatles: Rock Band — has guaranteed payment of $10 million to the song and likeness rights-holders of the band and the payment is guaranteed to increase when it posts good sales figures.

The owner of The Beatles catalog is Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which is a joint venture between Sony and the late Michael Jackson. The two other record labels that have control over the remainder of the music are Apple Corps for Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and EMI Music for George Harrison

According to estimates, the rights holders could stand to earn up to $40 million. One of the reasons for this big payday is because of the large amount of songs that are in the game. And this will also likely increase because of the plans by Viacom and MTV Games (who distributes the game) to release album packs every month after the game’s release.

And to add to the windfall, this month also sees the release of the remastered Beatles catalogue. This is going to be raking in money because it is the first time that The Beatles’ work has been remastered and given that new polish.

It’s amazing how a band that has been gone for decades can end up selling so much more again and earning the Fab Four boatloads of money.

The Prosecco — that fizzy, champagne-like wine is growing more and more successful each year. Italians consider it the perfect aperitivo for summer and other countries are following suit with their own prosecco vintages.

Recently, the Italians have decided to protect the prosecco variant by upgrading it into the country’s A-list wine classification, DOCG. The new designation now protects the name Prosecco, the grape variant and new regulations imposed on its production.

One reason that both businessmen and wine experts cite when talking about prosecco’s increased popularity is, surprisingly, Paris Hilton. A few years ago, Paris endorsed the Rich Prosecco brand, which came in gold plated cans. Her endorsement brought prosecco to the public consciousness and, in effect, different manufacturers started releasing their own versions even if these were not produced in the region in Italy where the original variant was grown. This was now the impetus Italian growers needed to push for the new classification.

So in effect, Italian winemakers were actually helped by Paris Hilton! And I always thought Paris won’t contribute to anything much.

Predictably, when people want to save up the first things to go are items of luxury. Because of the recession that’s happening practically worldwide, luxury has become dispensable.

And even the top hotel chains think so too.

The top hoteliers are being hit tremendously by the recession and are taking drastic measures. The newest tactic they have thought of is giving up some of the stars on their top hotels as a way of saving money.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., who owns the St. Regis and W hotels, reduce the level of service in some of its properties, and consequently the number of its stars. Starwood said it will eventually return to its more luxurious operations when the economy has bounced back. Already, other hotel groups — the Hilton Group and the InterContinental Group — have already downgraded some of its properties.

So what does this downgrade mean? It would mean not getting a welcome gift, no more flowers in the rooms, and nomorecom

Luxury-hotel operators have struggled to attract customers as the recession deters vacationers and forces companies to slash their travel budgets. That should mean lower rates for high-end business and vacation travelers. It may also mean the loss of some amenities, such as welcome gifts, flowers in your room, complimentary newspapers or 24-hour room service.

Hopefully, the car industry does not take a cue from this and start removing airbags to save money.

The recession is really taking a toll on everyone — even beer drinkers.

Because of the belt tightening measures almost all American households are implementing, everything is being cut down, even beer. There is a growing trend of beer drinkers now choosing cheaper priced brews when they buy them in supermarkets and stores. And this is a trend that the premium beer manufacturers are not happy about.

So what can you do? Well, if you’re Grupo Modelo SAB, the largest brewery in Mexico, you have to revisit some of your strategies. The company’s exports of its beers, including its top selling Corona, has declined by 5.3 percent in the first half of this year.

Modelo hsa said that it will be focusing on marketing to entice consumers to buy its beer. The obvious strategy of cutting prices to increase sales is not being entertained by the company because it will face higher input costs. One of its strategies is to even revive a popular ad it had in the 90’s as a way of stretching its marketing budget.

I don’t know about this strategy. Will beer drinkers buy expensive beer if they see an ad that’s more than ten years old? You have to be really drunk to get sold on that.