Ad Placement

Ad Placement

The sanctity of history and legacy is no more. Large multi-company conglomerates stick their name to anything and everything with importance. Where once there was Boston Garden, Comiskey Park, and Tiger Stadium, facilities that gave loyal followers an abiding identification with a team and city, we now have the Fleet Center, U.S. Cellular Field, and Comerica Park. Would anyone care if the National Car Rental arena is torn down? I for one would not.

In a time when Seven Eleven convenience stores sponsor the Chicago White Socks' game starting time of 7:11 pm, is anything sacred? Digital advertisements are now placed on your t.v. screen to look as if they were really a part of the entertainment your are watching. Celebrities on the red carpet are quick to divulge the creators of their fashion ensemble. Interviews with the stars of motorsports are filled with sponsor name drops so much that the whole point of the interview is lost on the listener.

Personal space is even being infringed upon. Everywhere you surf on the web, something flashy is asking you to click it. E-mail inboxes are almost impossible to keep free of money grabbing endeavours. Most of the regular mail you get is deposited straight in to the trash can. All of this has to affect a person in the already chaotic business of life.

Is all this name placement successful for companies? In one study done by Michael A. Leeds of Temple University, he looked at the impact of a company's purchase of naming rights and its return to stockholders. Professor Leeds examined 44 facilities for

teams playing in the four major professional sports (baseball, basketball, football, and hockey).

His study found that, of the 44 naming rights deals, only one showed a positive return that was statistically significant. This conclusion, however, begs an important question: If naming rights do not make a company more profitable, then why do so many companies buy them?

Just when you thought that theres no way they could stick anymore in our faces they get slick. The lines between where the commercial ends and the television program begins have gotten real fuzzy. Now you see products strategically placed during the show. The star is drinking a Coke or downing a Budweiser. Companies even threw money at Disney to get placed in the children's movie Cars. Are we really placing Advertisements in kid's movies? Now that's getting 'em while they're young.

Traditionally the winner of the Indianapolis 500 takes a celeberatory long quaff of milk. Nowadays however, the first thing a driver does is put on a sponsor's hat, line up the pepsi and the gatorade, and thank his sponsors while taking drinks of the two between every sentence. Does it make sense to chase gatorade with pepsi? For the almighty

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