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Sports and Indiana Jones
Promotion for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is everywhere – even Major League Baseball team schedules and at NBA.com.
Indiana Jones is sponsoring the "Dunk of the Night" on NBA.com and the first Indiana Jones movie in 19 years is helping advertise the NBA’s Conference Finals.
Check out your favorite Major League Baseball team’s schedule online and you’ll find Harrison Ford’s photo in the box for May 22 – opening day for the movie. There’s even an online MLB sweepstakes tied to the movie that includes tickets to see your favorite MLB “living legend” and tickets to the film.
MLB stirred up controversy in 2004 when it teamed with Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios to promote Spider-Man 2 at ballparks across the country, including putting spider webs on the bases. The web-covered bases were scrapped after the outcry.
So are you offended by Indiana Jones teaming with your sports and appearing in the MLB schedule?
Comments
Yeah, I have to agree with Thom on this one. Sports are a business and if it wasn't Indiana Jones, it'd be something else. If I was a sports fan in 1930 and this happened (or maybe even 1980...) then I'd be mad. But in 2008? its almost expected.
Posted by: Emmett Jones | May 14, 2008 8:43 PM
Am I offended? Please! I'm thrilled. All it does is further "out" the commercialization of sports.
For some reason we're awfully priggish in this country about things like this. Look, we've come a long way from the original Olympic games. Sports are a business, and terms like branding, cross-over appeal, and integration are more relevant now than ever.
The rest of the world has it right: put corporate logos on the uniforms (yes, I know the WNBA is doing that, but no one cares) and call a "spade" a "spade."
Posted by: ThomDyer | May 14, 2008 7:13 PM