That s What They Want You to Think
Opening kickoff, 1999, I have waited for this day for three years. The Cleveland Browns are back. As I sit like a vegetable in front of the TV waiting for the kickoff, I am thinking of whom I should thank for the return of my beloved team. Should I thank Paul Tagliabue (commissioner of the NFL), Michael White (mayor of Cleveland who lead the protest to bring them back), or should I thank the owners of the other teams who voted to bring the Browns back to Cleveland? Broadcaster s voice takes me out of my daze and brings my attention back to the game. Then Mr. Voice- you know the guy who has the golden voice that could make cooked feces sound good- comes on and says, This kickoff is brought to you by Visa: It s everywhere you want to be. Also brought to you by Office Max: We go to the max for you. And the Ohio Lottery: Do you feel lucky today? Then comes another three minute commercial break that states the same things that Mr. Voice previously stated, but in a much more drawn out and extended form.
It is now 1:07p.m. and I am still waiting for the 1:00p.m. Opening Kickoff.
I wonder if the game would have started by now if it weren t for all of these lousy commercials. Are the commercials holding up the game or are they just filling in the dead time as the players get ready on the field? Well according to Rodula Tsiotsa, Advertising s dominant role is demonstrated in the game modifications. In order to enhance profitability, the television industry has been able to manipulate the structure and processes of televised sports. Examples of the rule changes that permit more commercials are official time outs at the end of each quarter, television time-outs, 2-minute warning in football and the 20-second time-out in basketball (1).
The Essay on Watching A Program Commercials Show Time
CONSUMER APPEAL Advertisers of today have strategically combined commercials and television shows in order to sell products. Gloria Steinem discusses a similar idea in her article, "Sex, Lies, and Advertising." She repeatedly demonstrates how advertisements, particularly in magazines, are complementary to the articles around them. In the same manner, so are commercials to television programs. They ...
In other words, the advertisements not only cause the kick-off to be 10-minutes late, but they also cause a two-hour game to become a three-hour game.
Commercials are impossible to avoid. The networks need to pay the bills somehow, but is it becoming a little extreme? Should the game be altered to pay the network s bills? My answer would be an emphatic no. Ted Turner, owner of two cable channels among many things, stated, Sports accounted for roughly 20 percent of the 1.1 billion total ad sales generated in 1995(Burgi 1) . I could do many things with an extra hour on a Sunday afternoon, but instead I have to sit here and listen to advertisers tell me about the many benefits and miracles that their, and only their, products can provide. I sit here and take it because I have no choice. Either I watch the game, which includes these messages, or I lose out by not watching. I don t mind it when I am at home and can easily stroll into the other room, get something to eat, take a trip to the bathroom, and come back just in time as the commercial break ends. But consider the fans at the stadium watching the game in sub 30-degree temperatures who have to be there another hour for something that they can not even see: commercials. Then again, they are submitted to another form of advertising, billboards.
Billboards fill many spaces in all of the major sporting facilities all over the world. I cannot believe that a billboard would have any effect on a person s choice of brands, or even make them more aware of such a product. Stotlar and Johnson, in assessing stadium advertising, noted that between 62% and 72% of attendees at sporting events noted the advertising (qt. Pope 4).
They found that this was an accurate account stating this corresponds favorably to the national statistics that indicate a 70% standard for outdoor advertising. The advertising was also shown to increase sales by 33% for products available inside the stadium (Pope 4).
The Essay on Value of Games and Sports
"All work and no play makes jack a dull boy".This proverb shows the importance of games in the lives of children. The body is the temple of the mind and is intimately connected with in.While playing a person forgets the worries of life.He learns the rules of life in more disciplined way.Games teach us to live in certain limits.Games enable men to fight the battle of life. Education should mean a ...
The important question remains; do these ads help to sell the product? Visa and Volvo would say yes. During the 1988 Olympic Games in which Visa frequently advertised and sponsored, they reported market share gains as a result of such advertising. Volvo also determined that for every dollar spent on its sport sponsorship programs it received six dollars in return (Pope 3).
Just simply having any old commercial, however, does not guarantee success. The commercial has to stick with the consumer, and the consumer has to believe what the advertisers are telling them. For example, in 1984 Puma sold only 15,000 tennis rackets a year. In 1985, following Boris Becker s first victory in Wimbledon and his backing of Puma rackets, sales jumped to 150,000 rackets (Pope 4).
That jump may explain why you see nearly every successful athlete promoting all kinds of goods ranging from Jordan and his cologne to John Elway and Terrell Davis promoting soup. The image implies that if you use these products you will be just as successful as the athletes that use them are. They appeal directly to the sports fan, because deep down most of us wish that we could do some of the things that they can.
It amazes me to see the ways that advertisers try to appeal to sports fans no matter what they are selling. How many football fans go to Office Max on a regular basis? I will bet not many, considering that a majority of fans have the more physically oriented jobs such as factory work. According to a report by Street & Smith Sports Business Journal, crowds at the Trans World Dome for Rams games are: 67 percent adult men; 58 percent white collar; 76 percent ages 18-49(Stallman 1) . They still try to tug at our fanatic strings , stating that we will save more time and money by going to Office Max. On one commercial, a boss asks his employee to spend the rest of the day out buying office supplies. Well, the guy goes to Office Max, finds everything that he needs in a short time, saves money, and with the extra time and money can now go to a baseball game instead of shopping. This commercial is a stretch to say the least. However, the next time that a baseball fan considers going to buy office supplies, they will remember the Office Max commercial. That is what the advertisers hope for anyway.
The Essay on Should Men And Women Be Paid The Same In Sports?
Women’s sport has largely progressed in the last 50 years. Women now play a larger range of sports and have access to many opportunities to play sport at a professional level. Yet the athletic world is still largely male-dominated. Women and men rarely play sport together and women are paid less when compared to men playing the same form of professional sport. In a recently published list of the ...
There are even ads that contradict the event that they promote. Set in Denver s Mile High Stadium, the 30-second spots feature sports anchor Dan Patrick recounting tales of Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway (Consumables 1).
You see a famous athlete, such as John Elway, sitting back, enjoying a nice, cold, and refreshing Coors Light. This beer will make you a hero, is written all over this ad. But I highly doubt that the beer itself led John Elway to two Super Bowl victories, in fact beer is bad for your health and therefore if you want to be a successful athlete you should stay away from beer. The image is what they are selling, not the beer. They want you to remember that Coors Light is the beer that John Elway drinks when you are torn between brands. They also remind us of his success and popularity, as if to say that you could be that too.
Many images are pushed at the consumer during the course of the game, and most of them include supermodels, beer, and cars. The audience that they are attempting to reach is the middle-aged male. …Gillette spent some 10 million [in ads] between Thanksgiving and Christmas, to launch its SensorExcell [razor] (Gianatasio 2) . The razor was directly marketed for men to buy. I guess the ideal situation for a middle-aged man would be to have a Ford Explorer parked in the garage and have his dainty supermodel wife bring him a 12 pack of Coors Light as he sits there in front of the television in heaven. Of course, that is what using these products will do for any man who buys them. At least that is what the advertisers want you to think, or at least associate that with their product.
