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July 31, 2007
A different kind of pigskin
The National Football League takes in over $7 billion per year. I admit, I contribute to that astounding number. I'm a big football fan (go Steelers!)
But the league's wheels seem to be coming off. One of its stars stands accused of despicable crimes of to-the-death dog-fighting. Some of its players are routinely in and out of jail. It refuses to acknowledge a link between players' concussions and their frequent mid-life dementia. It can't be bothered to pay adequate pensions for retired players. This season, it will limit the amount of time web media outlets can show game highlights to 45-seconds. The league has gotten so big and powerful that perhaps it's incapable of recognizing the boundaries of arrogance.
But the latest kicker, if you will, is this: The league is placing advertising space on the backs of photojournalists who cover the game. This season, photographers for local and national media will be required to sport red vests emblazoned with logos of Reebok and Canon.
Local media outlets, the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the National Press Photography Association are outraged. It's easy to see why. It amounts to unwanted shilling.
The photojournalists are not employees of the NFL. Why should they be made to follow the NFL's field-level marketing machine? It creates unwanted conflicts of interest between journalism and advertising.
The NFL says the vests will make it easier for security to identify credentialed photographers on the sidelines. Fine. Take off the logos.
I fear this multi-billion dollar organization is destroying the game I love with a greed-driven mania to monetize every square inch of its reach. Even Advertising Age magazine calls the logoed vest idea "ridiculous."
If you feel the same and want to send a message to the NFL, go here.
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Notable Quote: I fear this multi-billion dollar organization is destroying the game I love with a greed-driven mania to monetize every square inch of its reach. Even Advertising Age magazine calls the logoed vest idea 'ridiculous.' - Jackie Huba from [Read More]
I agree, but I think the ASNE is dead wrong to threaten Canon (one of the vest sponsors.)
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003618748
I definitely agree with this post! What ever happened to plain old good fashioned football!? Pretty soon, they're going to start selling ad space on the player's faces!
GoingLikeSixty,
I don't see in the article you mention where ASNE is threatening Canon. The president of ASNE sent a letter to the CEO of Canon asking them to reconsider the logos on the vest. There was no mention of any consequences of not doing so.
It is pretty similar in Germany. The press has to identify themselves, when they are covering football (soccer) games from the sidelines. Usually the vests would bare some kind of indication as to what channel or paper the reporters came from, but recently those have been replaced by sponsors. This wasn’t a mandate from the league, but rather the stadiums and teams made that decision.
This isn't all that unusual. I believe media wear vests with tiny logos already for the Super Bowl, other sports' all star games, college football bowl games, and LA Galaxy games, among others. Seems like its easier to wear a vest than carry around a bunch of credentials to show you are "official." It's also not really an "ad play" because let's face it, the amount of TV time a media guy's vest gets is extremely slim.
That said, I don't necessarily agree with it (but only because I think it's a stupid thing to do). It's well within the NFL's rights to do it, so if they want to be stupid enough to do something else that causes controversy, especially when they have enough problems going on, that's their choice.
Thanks for the enlightening post. It amazes me that purportedly astute business people often fail to consider the damage they do to brands in the pursuit of more short-term profits.
