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The football World Cup kicked off on June 9th, bathed in the sparkling sunlight of a German summer. Thirty-two of the world's top national sides contesting football's biggest trophy. But it's not the soccer I've been watching, but the commercial manoeuverings of the multi-nationals.
As I settle down by the television to watch the games, more and more I notice the brands, logos and symbolism of the giant corporations flooding into my living space. Commercialism, or 'brandalism' as it is more commonly known, is everywhere. The 'signifiers' of the world's largest international businesses are constantly flashed at us as we watch the action, and financial gain is the sole driver.
In the last 22 years, sponsorship of the World Cup has increased from $2billion to a whoppingly majestic (sounds like a burger if you want a clue) $16 billion. The payback for companies forking out to sponsor the competition and advertise their products via television and other media - newspapers, magazines and the internet - is equally massive (Note to Editor: ring the sports shoe people). To tag your logo or brand to the 'official' FIFA World Cup generates huge income. Adidas, for example, whose three stripe logo has pride of place on the advertising hoardings around the pitch at televised games, expect to pocket a cool $1.2 billion. Not a bad return for an initial $40 million stake.
Consider the above in relation to the 35 billion audience who tuned in to the 2002 World Cup. The final itself was watched by an incredible 1.2 billion audience. That's a heck of a lot of exposure. It means that an enormous number of people are being constantly bombarded by the logos, brands and subtle symbolism of the planet's biggest corporations as they simply watch football.
This year there are no fewer than 16 'official' sponsors, including Budweiser, McDonalds and T-Mobile. So, no prizes for guessing what drive-through the television audience will be using for food, or six-pack they'll pick up to watch the game with, or network they'll use to tell their friends the score.
The costs to Germany for hosting the competition will hover at around $350 million for improving roads and linking the routes to the stadium. Add to this some $1.7 billion to renovate stadia, including those in Berlin and Leipzig, and you get some idea of the astronomical numbers being tossed around. Such outlay, of course, will be offset by the money the country attracts via visiting fans and their spending power.
A study into the economic flow-through as a result of the 1994 World Cup held in the USA, estimated that in Los Angeles county alone spending on food, drink and accommodation accounted for $305 million.
With something like 3 million fans expected to visit Germany in the month of the tournament, the boost to the German economy will be colossal.
Maybe in four years time when the next World Cup is held in South Africa, a new competition to run in tandem with the football might be introduced. It could be called The World Brand Cup, with the multi-national making the most cash from their sponsorship investment, prime-time TV slot and high profile magazine and newspaper inserts being declared winners.
THE UNITED STATES OF SPAIN?
Is Spain breaking up?
It is beginning to look that way to a growing number of Spaniards, as the present government is actively involved in encouraging the presentation of 'blueprints' from regions seeking to increase their autonomy. Catalonia is the latest to test their 'perceived' nationhood by holding a vote on what is being called 'the statute'.
The new legislation, sanctioned by Madrid, was easily carried. Around 75% of those Catalonians who turned out, voted in favour of the new charter.
Acceptance of the document means the region will have a greater share of revenues raised and more say in the appointment of judges and prosecutors. In addition they will enjoy 'indirect' recognition of Catalonia as a ‘nation’. I have to admit, I am not quite sure what an 'indirect' proclamation of Catalonia as a 'nation' actually means or is understood to mean by the rest of the world.
For some, however, such moves toward increased autonomy have brought howls of protest and a distinct feeling within the country that the 'nation' - as opposed to the 'indirect' one - is beginning to break apart.
Opposition leader Mariano Rajoy has condemned the government and has intimated that these new pieces of legislation effectively mean the beginning of the end for the Spanish state. His fellow Spaniards are equally nervous. Around 54% of those surveyed in a recent newspaper poll objected to the idea increased autonomy across the regions.
The most vigilant of all, of course, will be the Basques. They have fought an often tenacious and always bloody battle for self-determination. One can only wonder if Zapatero is leading the Spanish down a dark alley from which there is no return.
BITSEVSKY PARK
Talking of dark alleys, It's like something out of a Hollywood movie, only it is for real. Someone is murdering people, late at night in Bitsevsky Park, Moscow.
The latest victim was a young woman battered to death, and found with small wooden stakes driven into her eyeballs. She is the 16th slaying of what the Moscow press have called the Bitsevsky Maniac. All 16 victims have been discovered in heavily forested parts of the park.
Police have said that until the discovery of the, as yet, unnamed woman, all the corpses had been those of men aged between 50 and 70 and all had been battered around the head by a heavy object. The killer does not rob or take any belongings from his victims and commits his crimes only under cover of darkness.
What makes the location more interesting is the proximity of a nearby hospital for the psychologically disturbed, some of whom, apparently, are allowed to wander in the park unattended...
A small wind has risen. Leaves are fluttering around my feet as I walk my dog. I had not noticed how gloomy it had become and it has caught me unawares. I had been deep in thought going over in my mind what I would write for the next Europhoria column and did not notice the descending darkness. Behind me I think I hear someone move, I swing round, perhaps it was the wind. Buster! Buster! Here boy, we are going home! |
