…but God bless the New York Yankees. Although the baseball overlords claim that “a segment of the fans” objected to Spider-Man II ads on the bases (which is true enough if by “segment” one means “all of them”) I’m sure it was the Yankees putting their foot down and saying, “Uh uh” that was the final nail in the coffin of this poorly thought out deal. It’s bad enough that every square inch of a stadium is filled with advertising. At least you can try to ignore it by focusing on the field. When it’s on the field itself…that ain’t right. And considering I’ve got a personal financial stake in the movie doing well (gotta love those book royalties), that’s saying something.
PAD
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I still shake my head and wonder what Sony was thinking with this promotion. Really, are they THAT concerned the movie won’t do well that they have to mess with tradition?
Ya know, I’m feeling torn on this issue as I was happy to see that some thins are still not for sale, but Spider-Man on the playing field would have given me some interest in the game.
It certainly did create more publicity for the movie…what’s that saying, “any press is good press”?
Well, I’m glad those movie promotion ads didn’t destroy the sanctity of watching steroid and coke using crybaby millionaires plan their next strike.
In a related story, MLB has approved selling adspace on the sleeves of players’s uniforms. The Player’s Association has objected, because they’re afraid players will be forced to wear ads that conflict with their own endorsement deals.
Won’t be long before the playing field looks like a nascar racer!
Considering the rapidly aging baseball fanbase, maybe it’s the only way to get kids interested. Hëll, have ’em all dress like superheroes when they play. “And Spiderman catches a pop fly ball…”
Considering the rapidly aging baseball fanbase, maybe it’s the only way to get kids interested. Hëll, have ’em all dress like superheroes when they play. “And Spiderman catches a pop fly ball…”
Sorry for the double post, only hit it once, I swears.
And here’s the counter-argument:
Was this really a big deal? The logo on the bases was tiny, and I doubt any TV camera would have picked it up. Few fans would have seen it on the field. And it wasn’t as if the proposed logo was garish- the webs actually sort of matched the design of the bag.
Now, I hate advertising. I could see where in future years, it could lead to some garish ads all over the place. But this particular instance wouldn’t have been so bad. Is the CITGO sign behind the Green Monster bad? The Coca-Cola bottle in center field at Pac Bell Park (Yes, I know it has a new name, but I like Pac Bell as a name)? There’s nothing wrong with GOOD examples of ads in baseball.
It would have been better if you could have put one of those mid-70s Romita-inspired Spidey heads on the bag, if for nothing else than children all over the US asking, “Daddy, why is Jason Giambi stomping on Spid-a-man’s head?” (And that is how kids say Spider-Man, you know.
Marvel is better spending that ad money on a Nascar on-car ad. Nascar fans rabidly support their drivers, even specifically buying goods advertised by their favorite racer. When my father worked down south, he was amazed at how many people who buy Tide just because of the racer who drove the Tide car.
Anyway, that’s my side of it. Feel free to disagree.
Marc,
What was Sony thinking? Probably that at the very least, they would get tons of free publicity and have 90% of NEWS anchors in America mouthing the name “Spider-Man” numerous times, and every newscast, from the local ones to CNN and Fox News, showing clips of the movie. The 24 hours of free advertising and brand awareness more than made it worth the relatively small investement, which now – since MLB has squelched the deal, they don’t even have to pay!
Why are the fences okay and the bases not okay? Either you let advertising in, or you don’t.
And quite honestly, as long as the game is played well, I don’t care about anything else. If I did, I would have stopped wathcing years ago, since everything surrounding the game is a mess.
Oh, and am I the only one who feels part of the backlash is because it was an ad for a movie about a mere comic book hero? Some of the posrt writers certainly seem to be put out by that alone.
(Poor Spidey. And this happened with JJJ saying a thing.)
PAD, Methinks you give the Yankees way too much credit. I believe that if their games were on national television that weekend, you would not have heard a word from them.
And what team IS on national television on BOTH Saturday and Sunday that weekend? The Red Sox, of course.
Cowinky-dink? I think not.
-hey
“Why are the fences okay and the bases not okay? Either you let advertising in, or you don’t.”
Well, if they were first talking about putting ads inside the fences when I had this blog, I’d have been bìŧçhìņg about that, too. As it is, they’re obviously not going away. But at least there won’t be further encroachment.
PAD
The Hey,
I think you are not giving the Yankees enough credit (and I’m not a fan, but I give credit where it is due).
It doesn’t matter who is on national TV this weekend. Each team was going to get the same, so who the hëll cares?
The fact that they are definitely a team that did not need to compromise the game for what was a relative pittance. Especially for something that at best was hard to notice and at worst was REALLY cheesy.
There was speculation from day 1 that this was
a scam. The amount of money that MLB was going
to accept seemed too low for it to be a real deal,
but in the (if you’ll pardon the expression) “ballpark” for a 3-day use of their
name.
From the look of the web-base, who’d see it anyway?
Ed,
Actually, the Yankees and Red Sox were getting $100K each and the other 28 teams were getting only $50K each (The Sox because they are on 2 national games and the Yankees because, well, they’re The Yankees). I actually didn’t care about the ads on the bases (Hëll, in fact I’m sure I know a lot of Fanboys that would have liked to have a “limited-edition” replica Spider-Base if they sold them), but I DO understand that it might set a bad example.
However, I know that the $50K would have been a nice shot in the arm to the money-losing teams (Brewers, Royals, etc.) and find it interesting that the one team that cries out that this is bad for baseball is the one that least needs the money and has the $200 million payroll.
But that’s just my opinion, I may be wrong. 😉
-hey
YOU SAID IT, PETER!!!! 😀
Mindy
I was listening to NPR and while the “scam” theory is a good one, let’s think about the fact that MLB didn’t do market research and find out if the fans would mind. When they did find out that they would mind, that’s when plugs got pulled.
You know how NASCAR drivers uniforms look? With the dozens of patches with the names and logos of all their sponsors? I predict that within the next ten years, that’s how most pro Football, Baseball and Basketball uniforms will look.
I know the diehard purists don’t want to hear this, but as players salaries gradually increase, and team owners gradually increase the prices of tickets and official merchandise, there will come a point where the fans desire to see a team or buy their merchandise will plateau, and decrease. There are already many American families that can’t even fathom the expense of going to a pro ball game.
When the owners see that they cannot rise prices any further, then allowing more commercial advertising will be seen as the only means of sustaining revenue.
In fact, I would not be surprised that within the next 20 years will we begin to see hyphenated team names such as: ‘The American Airlines-Dallas Cowboys’.
I know that sounds insane, but I can honestly see that happening in the not too distant future.
but as players salaries gradually increase…
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Actually, baseball salaries fell this year, and hockey salaries will too after the strike (even the union willing to cut salaries; the question is how much). Just a point.
What blows my mind is how low football salaries are compared to other sports. Ever see a retired football player? Usually, if all they have is debilitating arthritis, they’re lucky. Reduced life spans, knee and hip problems, head injuries…those guys should be paid more than some of the other sports, but due to the hard salary cap, they’re not.
Well…there’s one thing I actually don’t mind, advertising.
But you have it all wrong, PAD. Advertising isn’t “everywhere”. Looking at old pictures of Ebbetts Field and the Polo Grounds, THERE was some advertising. But, of course, that was done away with because batters need some sort of “background” to hit the ball now…
Everyone now seems to be “ad-phobic”. Do what you want anywhere else, but DON’T have the Friends drinking coffee from Starbucks. Or Drew Carey going to the Cleveland Clinic. Hëll, the stink created when Alias had their characters drive around in Ford Trucks is almost too much.
See, I don’t mind this. It means having shorter commercial breaks, which are already approaching 1/3 of every hour. They’re the main reason why football games rarely last less than three hours anymore, and the real reason why baseball games are so long, since you have to have big-long commercial breaks between half innings, during every pitching change, etc. to pay for the games. Y’know, because they can’t put Spider-Man on the bases…
***It certainly did create more publicity for the movie…what’s that saying, “any press is good press”?***
I think you’re thinking of “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
I agree with the Yanks on this one as hard as that is for me to wrap my mind around. Its not as if we aren’t inundated with advertisments everywhere we go already.