Media and Sport

various media for exposure through sponsorship, television is the most effective and constitutes a relatively cheap form of advertising. Carlsberg beers, for example, might sponsor Liverpool Football Club to the tune of two million pounds, but, if the team has a successful year, the distinctive Carlsberg logo will be seen on our television screens for the full ninety minutes of a dozen or more league and cup games. Other games will have their highlights shown, plus the best goals will get repeated ad nauseam, so there could well be upwards of thirty hours of television time in which we are constantly reminded that Carslberg beers are the sponsors of Liverpool F.C.

Of course, it is not just through television that this sort of sponsorship pays off. Replica kits have become big business, and although the youngsters [mostly] who buy the shirts might pay more attention to whether or not they have the name ‘McManaman’ or ‘Fowler’ on the back, they will be carrying the Carslberg logo around with them every time they dress in the colours of their heroes.

Despite the undoubted importance of this sort of spin-off advertising, television is where the real impact is made. Television commercials are expensive, and the current limit on advertising on ITV is only six minutes in every hour. With the sponsorship of sports events, company names are on the screen almost constantly for anything from one and a half to eight hours in a day. Sponsors such as Cornhill insurance, who support the test matches [internationals] involving the England cricket team, have almost unlimited advertising at a fraction of the normal cost. They have developed the art of raising public awareness of the company to such a degree that they have even managed to profit from cricket’s traditional enemy, England’s weather. Whenever there are rain interruptions, the umpires may be seen inspecting the pitch under the cover of huge umbrellas, which are emblazoned with