User:U3025323/The Evolution of Alcohol and Tobacco Sport Sponsorship Agreements/BPS2011ESSAY/The Evolution of Alcohol and Tobacco Sport Sponsorship Agreements

This article aims to provide a history of the evolution of alcohol and tobacco sport sponsorship agreements in Australia, including a comparison to other nations dating back to the 1960’s. It will begin with an outline of the commodification of sport, both at a national and international level, followed by a discussion on how Australian sport, as a product, differs from that of other countries. There is a vast difference in the advertising legislation that governs alcohol and tobacco, whilst tobacco advertising at Australian sporting events has been banned for nearly two decades under the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act 1992, alcohol sponsorship is only monitored under the Alcoholic Beverages Advertising Code (ABAC). This raises some interesting issues in that the ABAC is a voluntary code with limited government representation and has no means of enforcing penalties for non-compliance. This has allowed advertising by alcohol companies at sporting events to continue. Consumer attitudes towards alcohol advertising and sponsorship are, however, changing with many surveys being undertaken to establish whether or not tougher legislative laws should be introduced to bring it more in line with tobacco legislative laws. Issues that had been identified concerning alcohol advertising are closely related to those of tobacco advertising with the two most common being the connection between the product and disease (physical and mental) and the penetration of the

Commodification of Sport
Today, more so than ever, sport and sporting events are being shaped by the commercial needs of businesses and government. This trend, whereby sport has been turned into a commodity, is reflected in the practice of naming rights for stadiums and arenas, logos on athletes’ clothing, equipment, facility billboards and in the titles given to sporting events. The infinite amount of money that media companies are willing to pay to secure broadcasting rights contributes to the increase in the commercial value of such events. Often broadcasting of large events is considered prime time and advertisers will pay large amounts of money to secure these spots. Thirty seconds of prime time during the American Superbowl can cost upwards of $3 million. The commodification of sport affects all aspects of the industry, from amateur sports to professional sports, and has had a major impact on sport sponsorship agreements. Young, T.R. 1986. ‘The Sociology of Sport: Structural Marxist and Cultural Marxist Approaches’ Sociological Perspectives, Vol 29, No 1, pp 3-28 University of California Press Slack, T. The Commercialisation of Sport. 2004. New York: Routledge

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