Football Partnerships

By Alex Kotler

While the nature of what one finds offensive depends upon his/her culture, sponsors must cast an eye towards the actions and messages conveyed by the person or parties with whom it partners.

On August 11th, the Guardian newspaper ran a story about an advertisement in the sport daily Marca, Spain’s best-selling newspaper, which featured the country’s national basketball team making ’slit-eyed’ gestures at the camera - a reference to the pronounced epicanthic folds of people of Asian descent. The story was picked up and has circled the globe twice over, reeking various degrees of havoc - depending upon the readers’ sensitivity to the matter.

While Spain and its players defended the picture, American’s responded sharply, calling the “affectionate” gesture “tasteless”. Jason Kidd, a member of the US Olympic basketball team and NBA player, said:

“We would’ve been already thrown out of the Olympics. At least, we wouldn’t have been able to come back to the U.S. …There would be suspensions.”

And for his European peers, Kidd speculated, “They won’t do anything to them. It’s a double standard.”

Whether that would be the case remains to be seen; however, the Guardian columnist who wrote the piece, Sid Lowe, a recognized football journalist based in Madrid, has found himself on the unfortunate end of the backlash.

Meanwhile, on August 5th, several players of the women’s Argentine Olympic football team were photographed striking a similar pose in Olé, an Argentine sports newspaper. Reports of the photo surfaced after the Spanish advertisement, bringing into question the views of Spanish-speaking peoples around the world. Interestingly enough, and perhaps because of either the sport or the sex, the story didn’t have the same legs here in the US as the one on basketball.

The importance, though, should resonate with sponsors of all sports - including soccer. Coca-cola and San Miguel, not to mention the Olympic brand, have their logos emblazoned on the Argentina and Spain jerseys, respectively. Each has been relatively mum on the controversy, understandably distancing itself from it. The problem, though, is that they are now forever framed in these - inappropriate to some, misunderstood to others - photos.

The moral, if there is one, is for sponsors and their partners to see eye to eye from the beginning, ’slit-eyed’ or not.