Caught in the spider's web
[Note: this post is brought to you by "Le Rustique" camembert]
I don't like this at all. I'm not against advertising per se, or even advertising within sports, but my thought is - and always has been - that the advertising should stop short of the field of play, whether it's ads painted on the field, printed on the bases or featured on uniforms.
I remember back in the early '80s, when advertising started to appear on the shirts worn by soccer players in the UK - I didn't like it back then, and I don't like it now, for several reasons. The first reason is simply aesthetic: the easiest way to spoil the effect of a really cool shirt or uniform is to stick advertising on it. Still, at least the shirt in question is that of a major club and advertises a well-known international brand - there are around 90 professional soccer clubs in the UK, and most of them feature advertising on their shirts, but the smaller the club is and lower the division the club is in, the more likelihood there is of seeing some horrible logo for "Joe's Pizza Parlour" or "Alf's Garage" stuck on the front of the shirt.
I suppose I should be grateful that UK soccer teams tend to stick with one single sponsor / advertiser - here in France it's even worse: teams sometimes have two or more sponsors on their shirt (front and back) and on their shorts as well, particularly for televised games. The impression you get is no longer that of a soccer match but rather some kind of mobile advertising seminar. It's not a pretty sight.
The second reason is more economic than aesthetic - as I said, I can accept advertising within the stadium or on hoardings around the field (I'm even willing to put up with those ads Fox shows during the World Series for TV shows I can't even see, let alone want to watch), but I don't want to see any kind of advertising plastered across those legendary pinstripes (I know - I'm not really a Yankees fan, but they do have one of the coolest and most recognisable jerseys in the world) or indeed any other jersey.
[Just a thought in passing - there is a baseball gear 'geek' hidden just below the surface of this ordinary Englishman, to which my growing collection of MLB caps bears witness. When I have a little more spare cash, that collection could well expand into the area of replica jerseys, and if and when it does, I'll be glad that my interest is in baseball and not soccer - I would hate to have to shell out $130+ for a replica jersey, only to become a walking advertisement for Pepsi or Pizza Hut or Geico Direct...]
One of the advantages that baseball has over soccer is that most front of the jersey is already taken up with the name of the team, so any proposed advertising would have to be more discreet (on caps, helmets etc.), but even if it's discreet, I still don't like it. I paid to get into the ballpark (or to suscribe to my local cable operator or, in my case, MLB.TV) - once I'm there, I'm bombarded with ads all over the place, whether inside the ballpark or between innings on TV, and I don't want to see any on the field. I hear the reassurances from the powers-that-be at Major League Baseball that there are no plans afoot to go beyond advertising on the bases, but that's already too much - once the door is open, it will be hard to resist the lure of all that lovely advertising revenue to be gained from selling space on the field or on players' jerseys. After that, the sky is the limit - we could have individually sponsored players, for example (imagine Bob Sheppard announcing ""Your attention please, ladies and gentlemen... Now batting for the Yankees, the shortstop, Derek Jeter ... No. 2....who is brought to you by Chevrolet Trucks"...).
So, a word to MLB president and COO Bob DuPuy: putting Spider Man ads on the bases or Ricoh logos on players' helmets is not good for baseball. Outside of the foul lines, advertise whatever and however you want, but please leave us to enjoy what goes on on the field as it was meant to be enjoyed.
Update: Paul over at Nice Guys Finish Third shares his thoughts on the subject and has a couple of good examples of "how to..." and how not to..." as far as shirt advertising goes.
Update: Dave Pinto at Baseball Musings weighs in with his two penn'th as well. It would seem that nobody out there - outside of Bob DuPuy - thinks that this is a good idea.
I don't like this at all. I'm not against advertising per se, or even advertising within sports, but my thought is - and always has been - that the advertising should stop short of the field of play, whether it's ads painted on the field, printed on the bases or featured on uniforms.
I remember back in the early '80s, when advertising started to appear on the shirts worn by soccer players in the UK - I didn't like it back then, and I don't like it now, for several reasons. The first reason is simply aesthetic: the easiest way to spoil the effect of a really cool shirt or uniform is to stick advertising on it. Still, at least the shirt in question is that of a major club and advertises a well-known international brand - there are around 90 professional soccer clubs in the UK, and most of them feature advertising on their shirts, but the smaller the club is and lower the division the club is in, the more likelihood there is of seeing some horrible logo for "Joe's Pizza Parlour" or "Alf's Garage" stuck on the front of the shirt.
I suppose I should be grateful that UK soccer teams tend to stick with one single sponsor / advertiser - here in France it's even worse: teams sometimes have two or more sponsors on their shirt (front and back) and on their shorts as well, particularly for televised games. The impression you get is no longer that of a soccer match but rather some kind of mobile advertising seminar. It's not a pretty sight.
The second reason is more economic than aesthetic - as I said, I can accept advertising within the stadium or on hoardings around the field (I'm even willing to put up with those ads Fox shows during the World Series for TV shows I can't even see, let alone want to watch), but I don't want to see any kind of advertising plastered across those legendary pinstripes (I know - I'm not really a Yankees fan, but they do have one of the coolest and most recognisable jerseys in the world) or indeed any other jersey.
[Just a thought in passing - there is a baseball gear 'geek' hidden just below the surface of this ordinary Englishman, to which my growing collection of MLB caps bears witness. When I have a little more spare cash, that collection could well expand into the area of replica jerseys, and if and when it does, I'll be glad that my interest is in baseball and not soccer - I would hate to have to shell out $130+ for a replica jersey, only to become a walking advertisement for Pepsi or Pizza Hut or Geico Direct...]
One of the advantages that baseball has over soccer is that most front of the jersey is already taken up with the name of the team, so any proposed advertising would have to be more discreet (on caps, helmets etc.), but even if it's discreet, I still don't like it. I paid to get into the ballpark (or to suscribe to my local cable operator or, in my case, MLB.TV) - once I'm there, I'm bombarded with ads all over the place, whether inside the ballpark or between innings on TV, and I don't want to see any on the field. I hear the reassurances from the powers-that-be at Major League Baseball that there are no plans afoot to go beyond advertising on the bases, but that's already too much - once the door is open, it will be hard to resist the lure of all that lovely advertising revenue to be gained from selling space on the field or on players' jerseys. After that, the sky is the limit - we could have individually sponsored players, for example (imagine Bob Sheppard announcing ""Your attention please, ladies and gentlemen... Now batting for the Yankees, the shortstop, Derek Jeter ... No. 2....who is brought to you by Chevrolet Trucks"...).
So, a word to MLB president and COO Bob DuPuy: putting Spider Man ads on the bases or Ricoh logos on players' helmets is not good for baseball. Outside of the foul lines, advertise whatever and however you want, but please leave us to enjoy what goes on on the field as it was meant to be enjoyed.
Update: Paul over at Nice Guys Finish Third shares his thoughts on the subject and has a couple of good examples of "how to..." and how not to..." as far as shirt advertising goes.
Update: Dave Pinto at Baseball Musings weighs in with his two penn'th as well. It would seem that nobody out there - outside of Bob DuPuy - thinks that this is a good idea.
posted by Iain at
13:35
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