Notes

Chris Mitchell
Oct, 2015

How Advertising Is Influencing Sport

Marketing through advertisement has become a major factor that has influenced the way we view sport today. Throughout sport history, events have been depicted as means of celebration, entertainment, and competition. However, it has been brought to the attention of larger industries the high degree of emphasis, and value society puts on public entertainers. In turn, it has been made apparent the abundance of profit to be made through celebrity product endorsement; the power of reflection; and event sponsorship. With these, sport fans and viewers alike have altered and manipulated consumer attitudes in direct relation to powerful subliminal advertising techniques entirely based on overall revenue through sport.

One of the most common and easiest to see advertising techniques of big business is the increase of brand popularity through third-party celebrity product endorsement. Tiger Woods was, and still is arguably one of the best golfers of all time, and was reported to have signed a hundred million dollar contract with Nike over a term of five years to simply endorse their products [golftoday]. Due to the fact that humans today hoist entertainers on this pedestal as god-like figures, to have famous celebrities publicly come forth wearing brand name merchandise will allow the consumer to believe that these brands must be making the entertainer, instead of the other way around. Not only in golf, but this tactic has been made expendable across almost all American sports; who hasn't seen Troy Polamalu (an American football strong safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League) with his thought to be lusciously flowing hair with Head and Shoulders shampoo? Or even Derek Jeter (American former professional baseball shortstop who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees) and his commercial promoting Gillette. All of these athletes have taken part in altered sport advertising to directly manipulate consumer attitudes, because of their stature amongst the public.
Proceeding celebrity product endorsement brings forth recognizably as the route of all advertising schemes - the power of reflection. This technique is the among, if not the most widely used marketing tactic as it directly focuses on consumer behavior in relation to their inner desires [marketing]. Primarily, this approach focuses on how individuals view fulfilment and happiness through a variety of ways; such as family and friends; promotion of masculinity; and idea that sex sells. Many advertisements viewed through television now have family and friends laughing and fulfilled on a group outing or activity which illustrates to the consumer that if they purchase tickets to the game or go to this activity then they'll have these same feelings of happiness and fulfilment. Next you have the focus of masculinity and sex which really most often go hand in hand. A great example is how football players are portrayed as the big, tough, rugged men that aren't phased by anything, and have beautiful women cheering for them on account of this, whether that be from the stands or cheerleaders. Every human wants to feel respected, and desired at the same time, so by mimicking these entertainers who seemingly have it all by buying their products, watching their games and so forth, maybe we can have a chance to live that same life, or feel as they the same as they are portrayed. The concept of "reflection" has greatly been made part of advertising, and we see it everyday in sporting events now because of the great earnings it inspires.

Finally, the last way sport advertising has been influenced and manipulated is through event sponsorship. Despite our communal efforts to make money-saving choices, advertising is all around us, and is unavoidable. Every time you watch the Super bowl you have companies paying million to commercialize their products during this viewing time, or throughout the hockey season how many times have you seen the ice and boards covered with companies and industries looking to make them your first choice. Whether you realize it or not, they don't fund and sponsor these events by coincidence, to watch your favorite team win the Stanley Cup with the Doritos logo or GoDaddy.com on the boards psychologically intertwines itself to allow you to associate happiness, and winning with their companies. This is a very powerful tool, because subliminal habit forming is very hard to reverse due to the fact many individuals don't even realize it's happening. In minor and kids hockey in North America, or any children sponsored sport, one of the biggest industries supporting, and sponsoring kids is Tim Horton's. Due to their involvement and product promotion, their industries gross earnings last year was 3.2 million dollars [TimHortons]; with this in mind, it's difficult to be deemed that they have your best interest in mind. This is how event sponsorship has influenced advertisement in sport and manipulated consumer attitudes through powerful advertising techniques.
To conclude, it's very simple in modern times to point out areas in which advertisement in sport has shifted solely based on total revenue. With Celebrity brand name endorsements, "power of reflection", and event sponsorship, consumers are sometimes, and sometimes not able to easily see how their behaviors are linked to their belief systems, and how these beliefs are manipulated through advertising. With over seven billion people on the planet, and the majority being viewers or die-hard fans of one sport or another, it's more than likely that the well being of others is often left out of account when in relation to an industry worth billions of dollars. With that being said, it can be somewhat intimidating to see how close to home you, or those around you are being affected by advertising. This ultimately defining how advertising has influenced sport, and how consumer behavior is directly manipulated through sport advertising.