One of the funniest and perhaps even poignant moments in the UEFA 2020 tournament so far, didn't happen on the field, it happened during an interview, when Cristiano Ronaldo removed the two Coke bottles on the desk away, held up a bottle of water and said "Agua". Coca-Cola lost 4 billion on its stock. In a another interview, Paul Pogba from France similarly removed a bottle of Heineken from his desk, as after all - it isn't there for him to drink, for he is a practicing Muslim.
What is interesting about these events is that it is somewhat of a pushback against advertising and especially in the case of Ronaldo who is one of the most highly endorsed sportspeople in the world, he holds a little power in this regard. He never agreed to advertise Coke, so why should he?
Yes, the insane salaries these players get (Ronaldo makes 70 million a year from playing alone) is only possible because of advertising and he can't choose what adverts are played on the stadium signs or displayed on the press conference walls, but he should still be able to have some choice over what sits on the desk in front of him as he speaks.
A few weeks ago at the French Open Tennis, there was an uproar by officials and many players because Naomi Osaka refused to take part in the post-match press conferences, as she said it wasn't good for her mental state. The problem was that the conferences are obligatory and to skip them meant she would face a "hefty fine" of 20 thousand dollars, which after earning 50 million in 2020, is a small price to pay for peace of mind and she was happy to take the fine.
I found the response to her concern for her own mental health both surprising and unsurprising. Surprising because other players said "it is part of our duty as players, and I have no problem with the interviews" and unsurprising because it is all about money, because sponsors pay to have their products on display and those clips are seen all around the world many times.
The problem with the response from some of the players is that regardless of their experience in the interviews, they are not Osaka. It is like if a woman says "I don't feel safe walking around the streets at night" and I respond with saying that she is silly to worry , because I feel safe. I feel safe because I am a guy that is unlikely to be targeted and, I don't care that much about my own life anyway. Me comparing my mental state to her mental state is a poor comparison and inappropriate.
Then there is the problem of if it is her "job", she is entitled to some kind of negotiation and change of duties, as after all, people in far less stressful conditions, go on stress leave all of the time. Osaka wasn't physically hampered, she was mentally - so she would have still been able to play the tournament and as the world No. 2, would have still brought in viewers, despite her not giving post-match interviews. Her real job is to play tennis, not give interviews after a match.
Their fear was, if they let Osaka "get away" with not giving interviews, who's next? If players stop talking to the press post match, advertisers will lose interest in advertising and organizers and broadcasters will lose advertising revenue. If it is in the contract that they have to give interviews to take part in the tournaments, what will they do if the best stop showing up or worse, what if the best in the world start organizing their own tournaments instead?
That would be interesting, wouldn't it? Fork a sport.
Normally when sports split, it is driven by the management level and players go either where they are told by contract or, to where they will get paid. However, if the players themselves start their own leagues, they will also attract the sponsors because, the sponsors need players, not just tournaments. The tournaments are just handy events to bring the best in the world together to attract a lot of attention.
Imagine what happens when there is a player owned league, where they own all roles within the league, including the distribution of the game itself through decentralized streaming services. What happens when the best football players in the world don't turn up to the World Cup, or the Tennis Grand Slams are played on private courts and are open to players who have the freedom to say no to reporters if they choose.
Of course, it isn't that easy and sport is a trillion dollar industry that requires a lot of moving parts and organization to make it possible at the highest level, as well as all the feeder services needed to develop players, but it is still an interesting thing to think about in terms of decentralization, freedom of choice, ownership and the way we organize ourselves and behave as a society.
A lot of these things apparently don't seem to register anymore, as we are so used to getting everything subsidized by advertising, including the platforms we use. We love the quality and convenience advertising revenue buys us, but we don't care about the harm it might be doing to us, or others. We have built the internet to be "free" at the cost of our attention, which is constantly pulled toward advertising messaging that compels us to buy, with no regard for whether it is healthy for us or not.
What if Ronaldo removed the Cokes, lit up a cigarette and said, "Marlboro" instead?
"But he is a role model. Think of the children".
While I do not put much role model faith in celebrities and sports stars, in these couple examples illustrated, what kind of role model would you want for your kids? Someone that values their body enough to think about what goes into it, someone who values their beliefs enough to act in accordance, someone who values their mental health enough to avoid something they have identified as detrimental.
What does this tell about society when people making healthy public decisions for themselves instead of acting for advertising dollars, are seen as negative?
The advertising model is so crushing because once benefiting from it, the advertisers own you, as your income is dependent on keeping them happy and if you don't, they are all too happy to throw you under the bus and demonetize you. Because users do not own any part of their experience on platforms like YouTube and Instagram, their position is granted and can be taken away - like the life of a slave, owned by a master.
Remember, they are dependent on us, not us on them.
It is fundamentally easy to control advertising - own the media they need.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
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Rebellious players? Not to worry, the mass media is there to paint it black or white. On demand. And an aspect of demand might be with the masses, eventually, but masses have one thing in common. Easily swayed they are.
Thinking in physical terms of psychological entities...You need critical mass (of them masses) in order to change the balance.
Some innocent nudges are good to observe, though. Sometimes the tiniest of forces can start the chain reaction.
A vestige of waterness. I shall go and drink a glass in order to celebrate that. But change my habits so that I buy no other drink...that is the hard part as I am one with the mass of addicted sheep. Maybe if I bought water instead of having it around for free and leaving it underused...I would be...more invested.
Yes indeed and there is already the narratives changing in the media on these events - undermining change.
We ended up conditioned through little nudges, perhaps unconditioning and reconditioning will be done in the same way. A lot of people don't start, because the issues seem so large - but with nudges, it is possible to chip away at it until it appears manageable.
Funny to consider. I live in a place where the tap water is of a very high quality, yet it is hard to drink....
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That opening paragraph is rather hilarious XD Had to show J and he burst out laughing too.
There is so much that would come tumbling down if people just started doing their own thing, this is why everyone has to bew told that it is quite simply impossible regardless of all the people showing how possible it is xD
:)
If society breeds low-imagination citizens, it is far easier to tell them what to do and have them do it, as they will never see another way.
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What could possibly go wrong.
Hopefully a few other so called stars will get a clue and try to take back a little bit of who they are, to be remembered for their Identity as a person, not as a Product.
At the very least, make it so their productization benefits themselves and others more than the middlemen.
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I know some people don't like him but I was expecting his team mates to tolerate him a little at least :/
His ego is that large, there is no room on the pitch - even the goalie has to stand behind the net.
I think it's a role of the UEFA to ban 'unhealthy' sponsors from their tournaments. But since they are a sponsor, players need to keep their hands off. What's next; players that remove the boarding?
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These are loose on the table - so I take the stance if they are available to pick up and drink (what they hope for), they are available to pick up and move.
Kind of hypocritical, but he has also spent a fair bit of effort building his brand (I don't like him) so why would he advertise for free?
I am sure there would be uproar if he started advertising cigarettes, even if he got paid a hundred million to do so.
One of the most powerful idiots in the world. It doesn't take many of them to control everything.
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Diem right! };)
Yeah! they might think we are all Noovies here. LoL
Oh my my,interesting elaboration and analogy of this subject. Well done sir!
Indeed the advertising model can be so crushing that it certainly feels like they own you. To me it's okay if people "rebel" against that for sensitive reasons like the one of tennis star– Osaka.Then the question comes up that what if sports people begin to churn out fake sensitive reasons.Hehe.
I don't have an idea of how that will be handled right now🤷, but people sports people need to be giving some ventilation to think for themselves somehow.
Finally @tarazkp I want to heartily appreciate your making out time to welcome me some couple of weeks back. Always wanted to show my appreciation (as is my custom) but I didn't know there is a certain thing called "Resource credit" here. It really has held me back. I look forward to learning more about this new environment.
Please share with me my near latest post, a GUINNESS WORLD RECORD– https://peakd.com/hive-101690/@ogeewitty/guinness-world-record--31-clubs-one-player
Thanks.
Yes - this is the thing with building trust. Most people don't have it.
Do you have a little Hive powered up now? For most things 15 HP is enough to be able to interact normally.
Thanks a lot Mr@tarazkp for your dutiful feedback.I had to wait days to be able to build Resource credit.I would have wanted to correct a typo in my first comment here,but RC.🤷
Now on your reply as per your post.Exactly,building trust will absolutely be key and yeah it isn't necessarily a popular virtue.
On the Hive question u asked,I don't have any powered up,my first paragraph is the picture of things at the moment.Almost a frustrating wait to do basic things.Maybe u might want to be of assistance one way or another. Thanks
Cristiano Ronaldo has been my favourite footballer since I have started watching football and he is the one guy that I truly love and take inspiration from when it comes to fitness health if you read and if you're a little bit research you will know that Cristiano Ronaldo always try to to give good advice on healthy living and he lives a very healthy life waking up on time hi don't drink you don't smoke and other things as well so doing that removing the bottles of coc I think that was his personal choice and he did that because I feel like that he wanted people to live healthy as we all know that Coca Cola is not a good thing for health it's full of sugar and sweet water and nothing else
He is fit AF, but I find his ego a little frustrating. However, perhaps he needs it to be as good as he is. Boxers are the same - a lot of ego, but without that edge, maybe they can't compete with the best.
He is fit AF, but I find his ego a little frustrating. However, perhaps he needs it to be as good as he is. Boxers are the same - a lot of ego, but without that edge, maybe they can't compete with the best.
i agree with you well as you said i guess they need little ego
Every one of us is a role model, but some role models have to be the wrong kind.
If you've seen any of the first 3 Star Wars movies, it's obvious that Darth Vader needed to be in that movie for Luke Skywalker's hero journey to work.
Life offers all of us roles, only not everyone is the hero.
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Villains are definitely a part of the narrative - which is why I think that getting rid of bullies is a negative. Sure, some people will break because of them, but some people will be empowered by them too.
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You have an important point there. After this happened it was quite embarrassing to hear the media criticize Ronaldo for this. Obviously they will not bite the hand that feeds them.
However, with what Ronaldo did at the interview, he gave Coca-Cola much more publicity than this company would have had under other circumstances, it would be interesting to see this month's sales report. That day Ronaldo set three new records for himself and yet all the sports media talked about Coca-Cola for free.