Alcohol brands are tactically retreating from sports sponsorship, and we should celebrate
There has been a number of interesting moves from alcohol brands in recent months which indicate the tide could be turning on alcohol’s association with sports. Michael Thorn, chief executive for The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, explores if we are witnessing a tactical retreat by an alcohol industry that sees the writing on the wall, or if this is the start of something bigger and even more significant – a quiet and complete surrender.
When it comes to in-your-face alcohol sponsorship in sport, there have been two stand-out and long-standing contenders. In summer we had the Victoria Bitter One Day International Series, with VB plastered across every possible surface, players’ chests, cricket stumps, the sight screen, ground signage and on the pitch itself. In winter the mantle of most egregious alcohol sponsorship in sport is passed to rugby league, with the NRL’s State of Origin fixtures, as much, if not more so a battle of the beer brands than a battle between state rugby league rivals.
Like the Victoria Bitter ODI Series, it is the Origin players brandishing their respective VB and XXXX logos on their chests that is the most visible and the most objectionable; a guarantee that regardless of what is happening on the field at any point in time, that alcohol will always be front and centre.
And now, that’s all changing.
It’s hard not to interpret this change as a seismic and significant shift in the alcohol sponsorship in sport landscape. Consequently, there are likely to be major implications for advertisers and media businesses.
I’m interested in the suggestion made in this article that brewers are decreasing spends in sports advertising due to an ethical concern for the greater good, rather than they sell less beer than they used to, so have less money, and the dwindling audience they got through sport broadcast can be achieved elsewhere more cost efficiently.
I’m also interested in the suggestion that alcohol, fast food and gambling advertising’s contribution to the wealth of sporting bodies and broadcasters will be replaced by Government health advisory spending. There is currently no exclusivity or inventory issues keeping them out of spending in these programs now. But i’m sure government subsidized sport will be great.