Mr. Woods isn’t the only product or cause that has used death in some way to motivate customer response. In pondering the use of a dead man’s voice in a major ad campaign I came across some unrelated and diverse examples in the media where death plays its role. The reality is, in whichever way it’s used, it’s shocking but powerful.

Moxie Sozo is the design and advertising agency responsible for the Haiti Poster Project. The same idea has helped raise money for Hurricane Katrina victims in 2005 and the California fire victims in 2007. Two recent poster additions to the Haiti Poster project from Pentagram’s Harry Pearce and Justus Oehlerand are profiled in the latest issue of Creative Review.

http://creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2010/april/haiti-poster-project

A peculiar story in the British media that ran in February was about Channel 4 TV’s search for a terminally ill patient who would be willing to volunteer to be mummified as part of a documentary. The ads read: ‘We are currently keen to talk to someone who, faced with the knowledge of their own terminal illness and all that it entails, would nonetheless consider undergoing the process of an ancient Egyptian embalming.’ And the surprise bonus is that the chosen candidate may be forever on display in a museum! How cool is that?

And back to Tiger… CBS asked Ad Week’s Barbara Lipford to explain what she thought of the campaign –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Rs7KpA9vlo

Finally, and let no more be said, you gotta love Ad Busters’ graphic spoof depicting Wood’s relationship with Nike.

http://www.adbusters.org/blogs/adbusters-blog/tigerwoods.html