Olympic ads cheapen message
With the 2010 Winter Olympics steaming up in Vancouver, Canada, we can’t help but look at what’s really going on behind the scenes. The Olympics have always been a beacon of international unity. Side by side, nations join to show their individual pride and showcase the talents of their most esteemed
By Dominick DelgadilloThe Guardsman
With the 2010 Winter Olympics steaming up in Vancouver, Canada, we can’t help but look at what’s really going on behind the scenes.
The Olympics have always been a beacon of international unity. Side by side, nations join to show their individual pride and showcase the talents of their most esteemed athletes.
The issue with all of this is that NBC subjects its viewers to too many commercials. It is unfair to the people who just want to enjoy the Olympics, even if NBC did pay $5.7 billion for the television rights of the Olympics from 2000 through 2012.
As actor Morgan Freeman is telling everyone about the dreams of the athletes, the shows of the latter evening or shaving cream, it’s hard not to think there is a serious degree of subliminal messaging being pounded into viewers’ brains.
NBC is an American owned and operated network. While they really can’t help showing American athletes as being superior to their foreign counterparts, they make the athletes seem like they are super humans worthy of praise and high worship.
Even looking past athletes selling out with celebrity endorsements and all the product placement being drilled into everyone’s mind, there is a certain level of advertisement whoring that cannot be overlooked.
The Dreamworks movie “How to Train Your Dragon” has been exploited in every way NBC and Dreamworks can fathom. No longer can Shrek monopolize the market for adult humor being intertwined with and masked by cute creatures with Scottish accents.
Where the Super Bowl blatantly and even proudly displays its affection of selling commercial time to the highest bidder, NBC is attempting to mask its commercial desires concerning the Olympics with event tie-ins and touching messages. However, the data and rating company Nielsen reported that during the 2006 Winter Olympics a 30-second commercial cost between $500,000 and $700,000, a 40 percent rise since 1996.
Regardless of the product placement and endorsements which are necessary for certain athletes to make it to the games, there has to be a better way of going about it.
Maybe by the time the Olympics reach London in the summer of 2012, NBC and advertisers will understand the true meaning of the games and go sans labels. Doubtful, but still possible. Here’s to hoping.
