Spiderman advertising - now THIS is going too far!
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Spiderman advertising - now THIS is going too far!
From MSNBC:
Well - I guess its not like the game of baseball isnt already suffering. This is just one more step down that dark path. . ..
NEW YORK - Spider-Man is coming to a base near you. In the latest example of a sponsor’s stamp on the sports world, ads for the movie “Spider-Man 2” will be placed atop bases at major league ballparks during games from June 11-13.
The promotion, announced Wednesday, is part of baseball’s pitch to appeal to younger fans — and make money along the way.
But the New York Yankees, one of 15 teams at home that weekend, balked at the idea after the deal was announced. They’re will put ads on the bases only during batting practice, and then just for one game, team spokesman Rick Cerrone said.
While commemorative logos have been on bases for special events such as the All-Star game or World Series, the Hall of Fame knew of no other commercial ads on bases, spokesman Jeff Idelson said.
“This was a unique chance to combine what is a sort of a universally popular character and our broad fan base, including the youth market we’re trying to reach out to,” said Bob DuPuy, baseball’s chief operating officer. “It doesn’t impact the play or performance of the game.”
Nowadays, ads can show up just about anywhere in sports.
Telecasts of major league and college football games, for example, include virtual ads visible just to TV viewers. College football bowl games are named for advertisers. Boxers’ backs bear stenciled ads. Just last week, a court ruled that Kentucky Derby jockeys could wear sponsors’ patches on their uniforms.
“I guess it’s inevitable, but it’s sad,” said Fay Vincent, a former baseball commissioner and former president of Columbia Pictures, which is releasing “Spider-Man 2.”
“I’m old-fashioned. I’m a romanticist. I think the bases should be protected from this. I feel the same way I do when I see jockeys wears ads: Maybe this is progress, but there’s something in me that regrets it very much,” he added.
Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker didn’t think it would make a difference.
“I don’t care,” he said. “You’ve still got to touch base, whether they got spiders, scorpions or snakes on them.”
The movie promotion has been in the works for more than a year and will include ad buys and ballpark events, such as giving masks to fans, said Jacqueline Parkes, baseball’s senior vice president for marketing and advertising.
The ads, about 4-by-4-inches with a red background and yellow webbing, won’t appear on home plate. The Yankees did agree to allow ads in the on-deck circles during their series that weekend against San Diego.
“Spider-Man 2” opens June 30, and the weekend in early June was picked because it is during interleague play, which draws higher attendance than usual.
“We need to reach out to a younger demographic to bring them to the ballpark,” Parkes said. “They are looking for nontraditional breakthrough ways to convey ’Spider-Man’ messaging. ... It’s the future of how we generate excitement inside the stadium and about the game itself.”
Baseball will receive about $3.6 million in a deal negotiated by Major League Baseball Properties with Marvel Studios and Columbia Pictures, a division of Sony Inc., a high-ranking baseball executive said on condition of anonymity.
The Yankees and Boston Red Sox will get more than $100,000 each, the team executive said, also on condition of anonymity. Most of the other 13 teams playing at home that weekend will get about $50,000 apiece, the team executive said.
Parkes said the amount a team receives depends on the level of its participation. Geoffrey Ammer, president of marketing for the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, was not immediately available for comment, spokesman Steve Elzer said.
In a twist, Amanda Aardsma, the sister of Giants rookie pitcher David Aardsma, has a small role in the movie.
Ralph Nader, a presidential candidate and consumer advocate, criticized the deal. He wrote Tuesday to baseball commissioner Bud Selig, denouncing the decision to have ads on uniforms during the season-opening series in March between the Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays in Tokyo.
“It’s gotten beyond grotesque,” Nader said. “The fans have to revolt here. Otherwise, they’ll be looking at advertisements between advertisements.”
Gary Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert, called for baseball fans to boycott Sony products. Nader is the chair of the organization’s advisory board.
U.S. Rep George Nethercutt, a Washington Republican who is a former part-owner of the Greensboro Bats and the Michigan Battle Cats minor league teams, sent a letter to Selig protesting the decision.
“Little Leaguers deserve to see their heroes slide into bases, not ads,” wrote Nethercutt, who is running for U.S. Senate.
Todd Zeile of the New York Mets didn’t mind the ads.
“We’re an entertainment outlet. there’s going to be commercialism,” he said. “At least, at this point, we don’t look like NASCAR drivers or World Cup soccer players. That’s not to say that’s not in the future.”
In separate promotions, the bases also will feature pink ribbons Sunday as part of a Mother’s Day promotion to raise breast-cancer awareness, and they will have blue ribbons on Father’s Day, June 20, to raise prostate-cancer awareness.
John Hirschbeck, head of the World Umpires Association, said the ads won’t make it harder for umpires to make calls at the bases. And it wouldn’t bother him if umpires’ uniforms had ads — as long as they share the profit.
“We’ve got it on jockeys’ pants. Why not?” he said.
Vincent, brought into baseball by commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti, wondered how his friend would have reacted. Giamatti, who died in 1989, rhapsodized about baseball is essays such as “The Green Fields of the Mind,” in which he referred to second base as a “jagged rock” in the middle of the field.
“Wherever he is, Bart is spinning,” Vincent said. “It’s a good thing he’s not around.”
The promotion, announced Wednesday, is part of baseball’s pitch to appeal to younger fans — and make money along the way.
But the New York Yankees, one of 15 teams at home that weekend, balked at the idea after the deal was announced. They’re will put ads on the bases only during batting practice, and then just for one game, team spokesman Rick Cerrone said.
While commemorative logos have been on bases for special events such as the All-Star game or World Series, the Hall of Fame knew of no other commercial ads on bases, spokesman Jeff Idelson said.
“This was a unique chance to combine what is a sort of a universally popular character and our broad fan base, including the youth market we’re trying to reach out to,” said Bob DuPuy, baseball’s chief operating officer. “It doesn’t impact the play or performance of the game.”
Nowadays, ads can show up just about anywhere in sports.
Telecasts of major league and college football games, for example, include virtual ads visible just to TV viewers. College football bowl games are named for advertisers. Boxers’ backs bear stenciled ads. Just last week, a court ruled that Kentucky Derby jockeys could wear sponsors’ patches on their uniforms.
“I guess it’s inevitable, but it’s sad,” said Fay Vincent, a former baseball commissioner and former president of Columbia Pictures, which is releasing “Spider-Man 2.”
“I’m old-fashioned. I’m a romanticist. I think the bases should be protected from this. I feel the same way I do when I see jockeys wears ads: Maybe this is progress, but there’s something in me that regrets it very much,” he added.
Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker didn’t think it would make a difference.
“I don’t care,” he said. “You’ve still got to touch base, whether they got spiders, scorpions or snakes on them.”
The movie promotion has been in the works for more than a year and will include ad buys and ballpark events, such as giving masks to fans, said Jacqueline Parkes, baseball’s senior vice president for marketing and advertising.
The ads, about 4-by-4-inches with a red background and yellow webbing, won’t appear on home plate. The Yankees did agree to allow ads in the on-deck circles during their series that weekend against San Diego.
“Spider-Man 2” opens June 30, and the weekend in early June was picked because it is during interleague play, which draws higher attendance than usual.
“We need to reach out to a younger demographic to bring them to the ballpark,” Parkes said. “They are looking for nontraditional breakthrough ways to convey ’Spider-Man’ messaging. ... It’s the future of how we generate excitement inside the stadium and about the game itself.”
Baseball will receive about $3.6 million in a deal negotiated by Major League Baseball Properties with Marvel Studios and Columbia Pictures, a division of Sony Inc., a high-ranking baseball executive said on condition of anonymity.
The Yankees and Boston Red Sox will get more than $100,000 each, the team executive said, also on condition of anonymity. Most of the other 13 teams playing at home that weekend will get about $50,000 apiece, the team executive said.
Parkes said the amount a team receives depends on the level of its participation. Geoffrey Ammer, president of marketing for the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, was not immediately available for comment, spokesman Steve Elzer said.
In a twist, Amanda Aardsma, the sister of Giants rookie pitcher David Aardsma, has a small role in the movie.
Ralph Nader, a presidential candidate and consumer advocate, criticized the deal. He wrote Tuesday to baseball commissioner Bud Selig, denouncing the decision to have ads on uniforms during the season-opening series in March between the Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays in Tokyo.
“It’s gotten beyond grotesque,” Nader said. “The fans have to revolt here. Otherwise, they’ll be looking at advertisements between advertisements.”
Gary Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert, called for baseball fans to boycott Sony products. Nader is the chair of the organization’s advisory board.
U.S. Rep George Nethercutt, a Washington Republican who is a former part-owner of the Greensboro Bats and the Michigan Battle Cats minor league teams, sent a letter to Selig protesting the decision.
“Little Leaguers deserve to see their heroes slide into bases, not ads,” wrote Nethercutt, who is running for U.S. Senate.
Todd Zeile of the New York Mets didn’t mind the ads.
“We’re an entertainment outlet. there’s going to be commercialism,” he said. “At least, at this point, we don’t look like NASCAR drivers or World Cup soccer players. That’s not to say that’s not in the future.”
In separate promotions, the bases also will feature pink ribbons Sunday as part of a Mother’s Day promotion to raise breast-cancer awareness, and they will have blue ribbons on Father’s Day, June 20, to raise prostate-cancer awareness.
John Hirschbeck, head of the World Umpires Association, said the ads won’t make it harder for umpires to make calls at the bases. And it wouldn’t bother him if umpires’ uniforms had ads — as long as they share the profit.
“We’ve got it on jockeys’ pants. Why not?” he said.
Vincent, brought into baseball by commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti, wondered how his friend would have reacted. Giamatti, who died in 1989, rhapsodized about baseball is essays such as “The Green Fields of the Mind,” in which he referred to second base as a “jagged rock” in the middle of the field.
“Wherever he is, Bart is spinning,” Vincent said. “It’s a good thing he’s not around.”
Last edited by El-Kabong; 05-06-04 at 11:08 AM.
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Eh. It's baseball. Who cares? Why isn't there an outrage in car racing or Golf or any other sport where ad's are on the athletes? And there is already a huge thread about this in Sports.
Last edited by Mopower; 05-06-04 at 11:50 AM.
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i've never been to a major league game. are people close enough to the bases to see something that is 4"X4"? or is this something they're doing to get the players to go see the movie?
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We have a sports forum?
Even in the really good seats (I've had them once or twice), the bases are indistinct, seen mostly from edge on. Any ad on the edge will be just a red blob from the stands. From the top down, you wont see it, cept on TV - and even then, its unlikely.
Originally posted by costanza
i've never been to a major league game. are people close enough to the bases to see something that is 4"X4"? or is this something they're doing to get the players to go see the movie?
i've never been to a major league game. are people close enough to the bases to see something that is 4"X4"? or is this something they're doing to get the players to go see the movie?
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"Funniest thing about this is, does spiderman really need MORE publicity?"
this was the first thing that came to my mind.. also, im not so sure you'll be able to see the logos from the stands as well as you will on tv.. i think thats what they meant by trying to attract fans to the ballpark.
hmmm.. does this mean they'll have to take commercial breaks to wipe off dirty bases?
this was the first thing that came to my mind.. also, im not so sure you'll be able to see the logos from the stands as well as you will on tv.. i think thats what they meant by trying to attract fans to the ballpark.
hmmm.. does this mean they'll have to take commercial breaks to wipe off dirty bases?
#14
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Everything - and anything - is for sale.
I'm personally willing to wear a signboard while standing in line at supermarkets, movie theaters, post office etc if the price is right.
I'm personally willing to wear a signboard while standing in line at supermarkets, movie theaters, post office etc if the price is right.
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I don't go to baseball games (too boring, love football), but to the avid fans that go to the park and watch the games on TV, can you see what's written on the bases? I would think they were too small and inconsequential to make putting anything on them worthwhile.
Either way, the news is giving the movie a lot more press...
Either way, the news is giving the movie a lot more press...
#16
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Warner Brothers has went so far as to hype their upcoming Superman project by tattooing a logo for the film on L.A. Laker center Shaquille O'Neal. This commericalism is spiraling out of control!
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Originally posted by chanster
Spiderman sucked anyway. I will be skipping it, partly due to this fiasco
Spiderman sucked anyway. I will be skipping it, partly due to this fiasco
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Originally posted by DRG
Warner Brothers has went so far as to hype their upcoming Superman project by tattooing a logo for the film on L.A. Laker center Shaquille O'Neal. This commericalism is spiraling out of control!
Warner Brothers has went so far as to hype their upcoming Superman project by tattooing a logo for the film on L.A. Laker center Shaquille O'Neal. This commericalism is spiraling out of control!
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http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/sport...ory?id=1796765
Breaking News: Its not going to happen: Nice way to get free publicity on behalf of Spiderman. MLB probably feels they got used
Spider-Man will not appear on the base paths after all.
One day after hearing the public and media outcry following the announcement of the alliance between the league and Columbia Pictures in conjunction with the summer release of "Spider-Man 2," Major League Baseball officials and Columbia Pictures executives decided to scale back the promotion.
The original plan, as announced on Wednesday, was to have a 6-by-6 inch "Spider-Man 2" logo on first, second and third base during interleague games played June 11 to 13. But, on Thursday evening, the two parties jointly announced that the logoed infield bases would no longer be a part of the deal.
"We saw some of the polls on the Internet that said that 71 and 81 percent of the fans didn't approve of it," Geoffrey Ammer, president of worldwide marketing for the Columbia-Tri-Star Motion Picture Group, told ESPN.com. "Based on this reaction from the fans, we didn't want to do anything to take away from their enjoyment of the game and if that was the case with this element of the promotion, we could afford to do without it."
In an ESPN.com SportsNation poll of almost 45,000 readers, 79.4 percent said they thought that baseball was "selling out" by allowing the "Spider-Man 2" advertisements on the field.
"The bases were an extremely small part of this program; however, we understand that a segment of our fans were uncomfortable with this particular component and we do not want to detract from this promotion in any way," said Bob DuPuy, president and chief operating officer of Major League Baseball, in a statement.
After the release of news of the deal, which sources told ESPN.com was worth about $2.5 million, critics pointed to advertising on the bases as a sign that everything was now for sale.
Fay Vincent, who is not only a former baseball commissioner but also a former president of Columbia pictures, called the move "sad."
U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt, a Washington Republican and former minor league owner, reportedly sent a letter to commissioner Bud Selig chastising the new use of space for advertising.
"Little Leaguers deserve to see their heroes slide into bases, not ads," wrote Nethercutt, according to The Associated Press.
One man even started an online petition to oppose the "Spider-Man 2" logos on the bases "as well as all other 'in field of play' advertisements." As of 7 p.m. Thursday, more than 250 people had signed it.
The Yankees, who would receive more money than other teams for running the promotion because of playing in a large market, insisted that they would remove the logoed bases after batting practice and not use them in the one game that they had committed to in participating in the promotion.
Other parts of the promotion will be unchanged. Movie trailers will be featured on stadium scoreboards, the logos will be placed in the on-deck circles, and fans attending the games will receive "Spider-Man 2" foam fingers and masks. Movie branding will also appear on a ceremonial pitching rubber and home plate -- both of which will be replaced with the standard white variety once play begins.
Said DuPuy: "We are pleased to be moving ahead with all other elements of this ground-breaking marketing partnership and will continue to pursue new and innovative ways to market the game and engage baseball fans around the globe."
Breaking News: Its not going to happen: Nice way to get free publicity on behalf of Spiderman. MLB probably feels they got used
Spider-Man will not appear on the base paths after all.
One day after hearing the public and media outcry following the announcement of the alliance between the league and Columbia Pictures in conjunction with the summer release of "Spider-Man 2," Major League Baseball officials and Columbia Pictures executives decided to scale back the promotion.
The original plan, as announced on Wednesday, was to have a 6-by-6 inch "Spider-Man 2" logo on first, second and third base during interleague games played June 11 to 13. But, on Thursday evening, the two parties jointly announced that the logoed infield bases would no longer be a part of the deal.
"We saw some of the polls on the Internet that said that 71 and 81 percent of the fans didn't approve of it," Geoffrey Ammer, president of worldwide marketing for the Columbia-Tri-Star Motion Picture Group, told ESPN.com. "Based on this reaction from the fans, we didn't want to do anything to take away from their enjoyment of the game and if that was the case with this element of the promotion, we could afford to do without it."
In an ESPN.com SportsNation poll of almost 45,000 readers, 79.4 percent said they thought that baseball was "selling out" by allowing the "Spider-Man 2" advertisements on the field.
"The bases were an extremely small part of this program; however, we understand that a segment of our fans were uncomfortable with this particular component and we do not want to detract from this promotion in any way," said Bob DuPuy, president and chief operating officer of Major League Baseball, in a statement.
After the release of news of the deal, which sources told ESPN.com was worth about $2.5 million, critics pointed to advertising on the bases as a sign that everything was now for sale.
Fay Vincent, who is not only a former baseball commissioner but also a former president of Columbia pictures, called the move "sad."
U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt, a Washington Republican and former minor league owner, reportedly sent a letter to commissioner Bud Selig chastising the new use of space for advertising.
"Little Leaguers deserve to see their heroes slide into bases, not ads," wrote Nethercutt, according to The Associated Press.
One man even started an online petition to oppose the "Spider-Man 2" logos on the bases "as well as all other 'in field of play' advertisements." As of 7 p.m. Thursday, more than 250 people had signed it.
The Yankees, who would receive more money than other teams for running the promotion because of playing in a large market, insisted that they would remove the logoed bases after batting practice and not use them in the one game that they had committed to in participating in the promotion.
Other parts of the promotion will be unchanged. Movie trailers will be featured on stadium scoreboards, the logos will be placed in the on-deck circles, and fans attending the games will receive "Spider-Man 2" foam fingers and masks. Movie branding will also appear on a ceremonial pitching rubber and home plate -- both of which will be replaced with the standard white variety once play begins.
Said DuPuy: "We are pleased to be moving ahead with all other elements of this ground-breaking marketing partnership and will continue to pursue new and innovative ways to market the game and engage baseball fans around the globe."