No Logo (sort of)

2007.04.18 22:22

Brian Urlacher should not be wearing that hat

You know how sports franchises have gone sponsorship mad over the past 50 years? Yea, well they take it seriously.

Brian Urlacher of the Chicago Bears was fined $100,000 for wearing a cap featuring the logo of a sponsor that was no officially sanctioned by the NFL. Read the AP story on ESPN.

This raises a few questions for debate: Is this fine excessive for doing something that was passive? It’s not like he came on the mic and said “This Bud’s For You”. Are sports teams going to have to censor everything in plain sight? What about the fans? Why do I fear the day when I won’t be allowed in a stadium if I am wearing an enemy brand. You never know, I might appear on TV at some point.

But, of course I can see the other side of the equation. Urlacher may have claimed to be innocent, but chances are he got paid more than the $100,000 fine. Like the ‘hefty’ fines for environmental dumping, it’s only money, and there’s plenty more where that came from.

Chelsea

Still, I don’t want pro sports in America to go the way of European clubs, where sponsorship is even more in-your-face and doesn’t even try to mascarade itself. With the exception of the World Cup, sponsors have their logo emblazened on the center of jerseys for both football and rugby — and easily twice the size of the team emblem. What’s with that? I don’t know which is more perverse — the fact that every fan of the team becomes an unwilling walking advert for some irrelevant brand, or the fact that they don’t mind?

I guess at the end of the day you have to ask yourself which you’d prefer: Stadiums named for absurd companies or logos in the middle of your shirt, whether you want it there or not.

What was I talking about again?


7 Comments »
a tale of brands & branding, the industry
  • DK

    …WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

    Let’s compare the first photo with the second…

    First photo, cheesy, dumb American sportsman with 5 logos on his upper body alone. Pretty much every space possible has been filled with a sponsor.

    Second photo, simple football shirt common around Europe, with ONE sponsor logo, the team’s emblem and the manufacturers of the shirt ‘Adidas’.

    And you prefer the first one saying that us in Europe are worse for sponsorship/commercialism??? Oh please.

    Rugby jersey’s are the same, one logo on their chests, club/country emblem and the makers of the kit.

    I’ve heard of typical American arrogance but this takes it to the next level.

    The joke is the English football shirt is so unspoiled that putting it next to the sponsor-mad shirt of that American player destroys your point instantly, without even reading the text. I actually thought, having spotted the photos first that you were making the point that sportmen in Europe are less logo/sponsor crazy.

    • Nick the AMERICAN. Ya tard.

      You do realize there is no product advertisement on Urlacher’s jersey right? He was fined for wearing the vitamin water hat.

      Don’t make this about American culture when it is clearly an issue that the entire world of sports faces.

      The fact that you automatically jump to saying “typical American arrogance” only proves your own arrogance.

      Fucking troll.

  • DK

    …WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

    Let’s compare the first photo with the second…

    First photo, cheesy, dumb American sportsman with 5 logos on his upper body alone. Pretty much every space possible has been filled with a sponsor.

    Second photo, simple football shirt common around Europe, with ONE sponsor logo, the team’s emblem and the manufacturers of the shirt ‘Adidas’.

    And you prefer the first one saying that us in Europe are worse for sponsorship/commercialism??? Oh please.

    Rugby jersey’s are the same, one logo on their chests, club/country emblem and the makers of the kit.

    I’ve heard of typical American arrogance but this takes it to the next level.

    The joke is the English football shirt is so unspoiled that putting it next to the sponsor-mad shirt of that American player destroys your point instantly, without even reading the text. I actually thought, having spotted the photos first that you were making the point that sportmen in Europe are less logo/sponsor crazy.

  • http://www.brandcurve.com Susan Gunelius

    Thanks for commenting on my stadium sponsorship post on Brandcurve, Prescott. I agree that this type of branding seems to be an exorbitant expenditure for companies for little return.

  • http://www.brandcurve.com Susan Gunelius

    Thanks for commenting on my stadium sponsorship post on Brandcurve, Prescott. I agree that this type of branding seems to be an exorbitant expenditure for companies for little return.

  • Mark

    DK missed something, he should have taken a second glance of the picture above between typing his words, because if you look closer you would notice that the NFL Network logo is ON THE MIC IN FRONT OF HIM, NOT on his jersey.

    I believe if I’m not mistaken it’s called a microphone flag, hasn’t DK seen them before?

    So in fact it’s 4 logos on his jersey from what we can tell from the picture, NOT 5 as DK said.

    DK missed another thing as well, he glazed over the fact that on the soccer jersey the teams logo is noticeably smaller in importance compared to the huge corporate logo on the front of the soccer jersey, last time I’ve checked sports fans are more concerned about the teams that playing in the game and less about who’s sponsoring the game for advertising. I’d believe many sports fan s would be a bit ticked off if the European design of sports branding was implemented here in United States.

    So, in fact I’d much prefer corporate branded stadiums over corporate branded teams and jerseys.

    It’s amazing how many corporate logos we are exposed to daily and not even noticing it.

  • Mark

    DK missed something, he should have taken a second glance of the picture above between typing his words, because if you look closer you would notice that the NFL Network logo is ON THE MIC IN FRONT OF HIM, NOT on his jersey.

    I believe if I’m not mistaken it’s called a microphone flag, hasn’t DK seen them before?

    So in fact it’s 4 logos on his jersey from what we can tell from the picture, NOT 5 as DK said.

    DK missed another thing as well, he glazed over the fact that on the soccer jersey the teams logo is noticeably smaller in importance compared to the huge corporate logo on the front of the soccer jersey, last time I’ve checked sports fans are more concerned about the teams that playing in the game and less about who’s sponsoring the game for advertising. I’d believe many sports fan s would be a bit ticked off if the European design of sports branding was implemented here in United States.

    So, in fact I’d much prefer corporate branded stadiums over corporate branded teams and jerseys.

    It’s amazing how many corporate logos we are exposed to daily and not even noticing it.

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