I Ain't Buyin' This
I’m an ad guy through and through. And proud of it, Bucko. But this whole thing with sponsors slapping their logos on Major League Baseball team uniforms really bugs me.
Look, I know brand bombardment is a way of life. But ya gotta admit a lot of advertising is dumb and obnoxious. Pretty soon ballplayers will look like NASCAR drivers. Right now, 23 of the 30 major league teams have taken the cash from uniform sponsors. My favorite team, the New York Yankees, gets $25 million from Starr Insurance to plaster the patch on the pinstripes. Who the hell cares about Starr Insurance?
Baseball is supposed to be about green grass and sunny summer days. Hot dogs, beer, and the crack of the wooden bat at the old ballgame. It’s not about Marathon Oil, sponsor of the Cleveland Guardians. Marathon is listed as one of the 20 worst polluters in America. Nice tie-in for a city whose Cuyahoga River caught fire due to oil on the water and decades of industrial waste dumping. But hey, anything for a buck. You know what I’m sayin’, Gin Bottle Garvey?
For years, the agency has sponsored my old Mitey Mite team the Elmwood Jets in the Holyoke Youth Baseball league. We’re the only team in the league to not have the sponsor on the kids’ jerseys. Even though we’re an ad agency, we always wanted it to be the same neighborhood team I played on as a kid.
Keep your dukes up.
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