The Two Most Dangerous Sports Events
Arthur Solomon
Between now and February 20, what might be the two most dangerous sports events of modern times will be held. And TV viewers can witness them just by tuning into NBC, which is televising both. They are the Olympic Games from Beijing, China, and the Super Bowl from SoFi Stadium, a sports and entertainment complex in Inglewood, California,
The Olympic Games are now on going until February 20. The Super Bowl will be played on February 13.
Of the two events, the Super Bowl might be the most dangerous to those who watch the games on TV, because in addition to the alcoholic beverages ads that have been a staple of the Big Game advertising, and all sport programming, there is now even a more potentially dangerous advertising content -- betting from your couch commercials about everything from the coin toss to almost anything a person or legalized bookie can think of.
The Super Bowl is loaded with commercials, almost an hours worth. Most hawk traditional products and consumers can decide whether or not the ads make a persuasive enough case for the viewers to purchase it.
But the telecasts also permit unhealthy products -- the ones hawking alcoholic beverages, a veteran of sports sponsorships, and betting from home, which is fairly new. These commercials play to addictive personalities’ weaknesses and can lead to addiction. Especially dangerous are the "no risk" gambling ads, which are the equivalent of entrapment schemes because they are meant to change an occasional better who puts down a few bucks with the corner bookie, or participated in at-work social big event pools, into persons who become addicted to gambling, “because a person can bet without leaving the couch from the comfort of your home.”
What makes the betting and drinking ads so dangerous and insidious is that they often carry the “official sponsor of the” you name it, and the TV networks permit them to be slotted in time spots early enough in the events for impressionable youngsters to see, in addition to the “at risk” adult viewers. (Which of those commercials are more harmful to viewers? Since I don’t know of any research comparing the two, why not just flip a coin, or better yet, ask the legalized TV bookies to give odds on whether the coin will land on heads or tails.)
While the alcohol and betting ads on the Super Bowl are more dangerous to individuals, the televising of the Olympic Games from Beijing might be more destructive to humanity as a whole, because it gives a propaganda platform to a country whose government beliefs are the antithesis to freedom and democracy.
Sponsors advertising on both the Super Bowl and Olympic telecasts probably have similar reasons – to build awareness for products with the ultimate goal being additional sales in the U.S. and elsewhere, particularly in China for Olympic advertisers who view the totalitarian state as a future cash cow.
But there is one hopeful development for people who believe that the Olympics should not be awarded to a totalitarian state: Americans seem more interested in the political situations surrounding the Beijing Olympics than is the usual case during an Olympics.
Morning Consult polls conducted on Jan. 25-27 and Jan. 29-31 revealed that “American Want Olympic Sponsors to Speak Out on China’s Human Rights Record.” Nearly three in five consumers said they would support companies if they pulled out of the Beijing Games, said the poll.
The efficacies of ads on the Olympics and Super Bowl telecasts have long been debated by marketing analysts. But ultimately it’s up to the viewers of the events to decide if the money was well spent.
But there is one take-a-way that might influence advertisers and sponsors of future international games: As the Morning Consult poll revealed Americans admire companies that take a stand.
About the Author: Arthur Solomon, a former journalist, was a senior VP/senior counselor at Burson-Marsteller, and was responsible for restructuring, managing and playing key roles in significant national and international sports and non-sports programs. He now is a frequent contributor to public relations publications, consults on public relations projects and was on the Seoul Peace Prize nominating committee. He can be reached at arthursolomon4pr@juno.com.