Ads on uniforms? Discuss the pros and cons
Don't see this topic on the board but if so please delete.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/nba-to-allow-ads-on-jerseys-1460737136
It happens in other sports, notably auto racing, soccer, etc., and frankly I'm surprised its taken this long for major U.S. sports teams to put corporate logos on jerseys. And now that the cat's out of the bag I'm sure this will become the norm very soon.
Personally I don't like it, and while I'm quite comfortable with the tenets of capitalism, I am also struggling with WHY I don't like it. I guess the purist in me just doesn't like the iconic uniforms like the Old English "D", the pinstripes, the winged wheel, etc. to be muddied up with "Yum Yum" logos. Also, the naive little boy inside me wants to believe that the teams we root for belong to the community and not IBM.
And while we must acknowledge that all team uniforms already have apparel logos on them, let us at least agree that we will NEVER see some corporate shill logo on the maize 'n blue.
We don't even have ads in the Big House, and the uniforms are considerably more sacred. This will never happen at Michigan.
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WW3, major epidemiological event, global economic collapse, all three of the above etc.
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Uh, I think the Swoosh debuted on all UM uniforms in the 1990s.
The team is wearing jerseys, cleats, and gloves manufactured by Nike. Allstate, Meijer, Dr Pepper, and PNC Bank do not make athletic apparel. And the swoosh is relatively small compared to the advertisements on jerseys that allow them.
has a brand called MTA Pro. I recall wearing MTA Pro sneakers in the 80s. If Nike was the symbol of being cool at that time, MTA Pro was a dead giveaway that your parents were poor.
go-to burn on someone. MTA Pros, man. I was unaware it was Thrifty Acres' brand though. Learn something new every day, I guess.
+1 for the reference
Parents weren't just poor, man. LOTS of people wearing Nike had poor parents - yours didn't give a shit about you and didn't care who knew it!!!
/s
I believe that is what my mom would have referred to as a "character building opportunity!"
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Nike doesn't mean you aren't poor it just means you were cool. If you were wearing MTA Pro, however, it confirmed that you were both uncool and probably eating tuna noodle cassarole a couple times / week.
dad was probably drinking Keystone Light.
Clothing has had visible manufacturers logos going back at least to the '30s. This is a discussion about something different: logos that are not related to that particular piece of clothing or equipment.
...or maybe we could just make uniforms look like NASCAR?
Pros - none
Cons - They look ridiculous. They are redundant. They help sell products in absolutely NO way. They serve no purpose other than increasing the price of the company's goods since they paid the athlete/team for the sponsorship.
They help sell products in absolutely NO way.
Man, if only these sophisticated companies would hire you as their marketing guy, they could all save millions! You must really be in demand.
I spent probably $50,000 less than you on a college degree and had six job offers at graduation (three in my field and three out of my field). You would be surprised what you can accomplish in this world with a little common sense and a tenacious work ethic.
Okay.
sorry, I know this is not my argument really but what in the actual hell does your first point have to do with your second. Are you arguing that because you had quite a few job offers when you graduated college that mass marketing of consumer products in ineffective? Huh?
I think the point was that he didn't waste 50k on one of them fancy schmancy college degrees and he's still doing okay. Which, cool man. Great.
You picked up on it. You must have went to Yale. GO BLUE.
And you must have not went to Yale.
My good friend LJ was being a smart ass so I thought I would be one back. No harm, no foul. But let's be real: you are a special kind if you watch Nascar and see a Mt. Dew sticker and suddenly think, "Boy, I better race out and get me a 24 pack of dews."
doesn't work like that, I agree. But it is the reason I still grab a 12 pack of Dew over "Citrus K" or whatever other green pop is on the shelf.
Citrus K, Mello Yello and Mountain Holler don't taste the same as each other or Dew. You're sure you're only grabbing Dew because Dick Cole Earnhardt Wallace Trickle has it on his stock car?
All I know is that sometimes uniform design / marketing is effective if it makes you think or, or desire something. The Columbia Women's Cycling uniforms work for me.
Seems like the two on the right are the most cognizant of where attention is being drawn.
Idiots sitting on couches buying things sold by idiots sitting in board rooms. You are humanity's only hope.
Live. Breathe. Business.
Mr. Davis, I was about to upvote you and post agreeing with your point about their being Zero pros - but then you went all Douche Canoe.
That was a poor choice my friend. To your room with no supper
do think they help to sell products. It may not be that somebody sees a Kraft ad on a uniform and immediately makes some Mac and Cheese, but Kraft will jump to the front of their mind the next time they are shopping for some. If advertising such as this did not work companies would not spend very large sums of money to do it time and time again.
Man, i only clicked on this thread because it was a discussion about what merits or Pros the uni ads may have for the fan/consumer - which is ZERO.
I didn't know it was gonna devolve into a discussion of the theoretical merit of the ads to the advertisers - Who gives a dusty Fuck about that?!?!?!?
Wrong. You think Chevy's paying Man U $500 million for shits & giggles? C'mon, man.
The $80m a year that ManUnited and the Glazers are getting from General Motors is exactly why big name teams (and small ones also) can generate more revenue than any down turn in jersey sale. The owners know fans will always buy jerseys, how many of us will be buying the new Nike jersey this fall? Now a small portion may not buy a jersey with a sponsor logo, but no nearly enough to stop them from taking the major pay day.
Look at a team like Leicester City their current kit sponsor is the team owners... You don't think after their storybook season they won't sign a huge deal with a sponsor to help them spend to remain competitive. They likely will lose many players but if they get $30-50m a year for putting a company on the front of their jersey they likely can re-sign some of their best players.
Brands and advertisers are a huge reason college football is different (better) than college baseball or any other non-revenue sport, right? If it weren't for them, we wouldn't be able to watch Michigan Football on television. BUT, the length and frequency of commercial breaks are EXCRUCIATING. With that and tempo causing televised college football games to last nearly 4 hours for only about 20 - 30 minutes of actual football, the game experience is suffering.
We're in the stands too long waiting way too long for the breaks to conclude. This is a huge reason we're losing students and attendence. The television to in-stadium experience is tipping too far towards television because of the ungodly long games, and we're losing fans altogether.
Soccer is able to have games without (or with very few) commercial breaks in part because of logos on jerseys. I can ignore logos on jerseys. It would be horrible at first, but if it reduced the commercial break time by 30 min per game, I think I'd take it. I can't ignore the long pauses in the game.
Apparel companies plaster everything with their logos, so it already exists. I'm fine with it. It doesn't affet the quality of the experience for me. I just can't seem to get worked up over this.
I start associating the team with the advertisement on the jersey. For example, I don't call LA's professional soccer team the LA Galaxy. To me, they are the Herbalife team.
I think they look kind of ridiculous.
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Pro's for the owners; makes the billionaires more more
Cons; looks tacky
But plenty of other sports do it now, so they will as well. Why would they want to make less money?
I'm just waiting for these greedy corporate cable compaines to start charging for Internet usage like cell phone companies do....just takes a few to do it and then everyone is stuck with that system. Come to think of it maybe I should present the information to a board and ask for a fat check for the idea to make them all another billion dollars.
Cable providers already started capping Internet usuage and charging extra for overage. Just got a notice in the mail from AT&T. It's just one of their manys ways they are trying to combat the amount of people dropping cable.
I wouldn't necessarily call it greedy. They are losing money and looking for ways to stay afloat.
Since the internet is now a public utility I expect payment models to begin matching other public utilities like Gas, Electric, and Water. You will pay for what you use. Everyone will pay the same rate and those who use more will pay more, those who use less will pay less. That is only fair.