Faster, higher - and more expensive
Sport is the most important minor matter in the advertising world. And as such, it is well on the way to abolishing itself in the media, says Ulrich Saxer, professor emeritus of journalism.
Column Sport is the most important secondary matter in the advertising world. And as such, it is well on the way to abolishing itself in the media, says Ulrich Saxer, professor emeritus of journalism. Faster, higher, further! is its traditional motto - and more expensive the modern one. Since the days when the father of gymnastics, Jahn, gave sport the idealistic guidelines of "fresh, pious, happy, free", the relevant rhyme has mutated into the materialistic "product, price, placement and promotion". Victorious in the most distant waters and on all television channels - thanks to Swiss technology, but also thanks to sponsorship money, above all and particularly visibly that of UBS. The special stamp, on which the UBS logo is emblazoned larger than the name of the winning boat, is well deserved. Just as advertising is sporting, sport is also promotional: for the fatherland and health, for national solidarity and product quality. And so advertising and sport, together with the media and their showmasters, known as sports journalists, thrive together in a pleasing symbiosis.
After all, what would ski racing be without television advertising? According to scientific surveys, the Swiss population is more sports-friendly than even the Germans, and their favorite sport is alpine skiing. So why has this television sport lost no less than six percent of its popularity here in Switzerland over the last eight years and why are membership numbers shrinking in Germany?
of the sports clubs? But not because the top-class sport at the Tour de France would be better called sprint sport? Admittedly, there was hardly any mention of this in the reporting of the 1st German Television, whose "1" was emblazoned on the tricots of the Telecom riders.
Conflicts are increasingly arising between sports dissemination and exploitation interests and are increasingly being decided to the detriment of the former and therefore also the quality of sports journalism. The fact that Manchester United, for example, has its own channel to report on its exploits is evidence of the instrumentalization of top-class sport by the economy, which is already a matter of course today. And the fact that advertising time wins out over sports time in the scheduling of events and the events are thus endlessly prolonged is not to everyone's taste either.
The famous cultural sociologist Norbert Elias once stated that "the game of football is a symptom of a relatively high level of civilization", as it is able to establish "a controlled balance of tension" thanks to a sensible set of rules. As such, however, it is also always at risk, "caught between the Scylla of disorder and the Charybdis of boredom". That's right: sport is a wonderfully diverse and fascinating thing, and advertising has done a great deal to develop it. However, the more it intervenes in its own logic as an economic power, the more it jeopardizes its functioning.
Signs of weariness with sport and advertising - and even more so with their combination - cannot be overlooked. The segmentation of the public is already a fact and will continue to increase in the wake of the individualization of lifestyles; sport as mass fare only appeals to a limited extent. Having entered society as the most important secondary matter, sport has at times even become its secret main matter and is now on its way to becoming a secondary matter again, namely the economy. A little more cultural sociology could perhaps be useful for advertising strategists.
> Ulrich Saxer was professor of journalism at the University of Zurich and professor of communication sociology in Lugano.
After all, what would ski racing be without television advertising? According to scientific surveys, the Swiss population is more sports-friendly than even the Germans, and their favorite sport is alpine skiing. So why has this television sport lost no less than six percent of its popularity here in Switzerland over the last eight years and why are membership numbers shrinking in Germany?
of the sports clubs? But not because the top-class sport at the Tour de France would be better called sprint sport? Admittedly, there was hardly any mention of this in the reporting of the 1st German Television, whose "1" was emblazoned on the tricots of the Telecom riders.
Conflicts are increasingly arising between sports dissemination and exploitation interests and are increasingly being decided to the detriment of the former and therefore also the quality of sports journalism. The fact that Manchester United, for example, has its own channel to report on its exploits is evidence of the instrumentalization of top-class sport by the economy, which is already a matter of course today. And the fact that advertising time wins out over sports time in the scheduling of events and the events are thus endlessly prolonged is not to everyone's taste either.
The famous cultural sociologist Norbert Elias once stated that "the game of football is a symptom of a relatively high level of civilization", as it is able to establish "a controlled balance of tension" thanks to a sensible set of rules. As such, however, it is also always at risk, "caught between the Scylla of disorder and the Charybdis of boredom". That's right: sport is a wonderfully diverse and fascinating thing, and advertising has done a great deal to develop it. However, the more it intervenes in its own logic as an economic power, the more it jeopardizes its functioning.
Signs of weariness with sport and advertising - and even more so with their combination - cannot be overlooked. The segmentation of the public is already a fact and will continue to increase in the wake of the individualization of lifestyles; sport as mass fare only appeals to a limited extent. Having entered society as the most important secondary matter, sport has at times even become its secret main matter and is now on its way to becoming a secondary matter again, namely the economy. A little more cultural sociology could perhaps be useful for advertising strategists.
> Ulrich Saxer was professor of journalism at the University of Zurich and professor of communication sociology in Lugano.
