An excerpt from ‘Boundary Lab: Inside the Global Experiment Called Sport,’ by Nandan Kamath.
Given the role of sport in society and the values we look to it for, public sentiment is shifting, expressing concern about the types of advertisers, products and services that are advertised within stadia, aired during sports broadcasts or associated with players, teams and sports events.
In India, there has not been an active public debate around the appropriateness of surrogate advertising through brand extensions. Elsewhere, tough questions are being asked about sports sponsorships. In the UK, even though it is legal to offer sports bets and advertise licensed betting services, a debate raged for many years on whether gambling advertising should be allowed in the Premier League given how widely football is followed by the youth. In Australia, despite it being legal to advertise alcohol products and gambling, SGBs are being pushed to revise their policies on advertising by alcohol brands and gambling companies during sports events.