FFWD Weekly
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News by Maureen McNamee Commercial Alert condemns corporate takeover of sports An organization based out of the U.S. called Commercial Alert has sent letters to sportswriters at the 50 largest American and Canadian newspapers to encourage them to call stadiums by their nicknames instead of corporate names. "Commercial Alert opposes the excesses of advertising, marketing and commercialism," says director Gary Ruskin over the phone from Washington D.C. "Commercialism is a sickness that is taking over pro sports and there’s a lot fans can do about it." He points to the former Canadian Airlines Saddledome and the current Burns Stadium as Calgary examples of excess, and adds that the number of sports stadiums with corporate naming rights is growing. Commercial Alert is appealing to journalists not to use the corporate names in sports articles – Ruskin says plastering ads in stories blurs the line between editorial and advertising. "It’s a slap in the face to sports fans in the U.S. and Canada," he explains, adding that many people consider sports and sports arenas as national treasures, and their original names are part of history. Ruskin says sports fans can also help by referring to facilities by the nicknames. "If we’re going to stop this commercialization of sports, fans have to take the matter into our own hands here." Commercial Alert also monitors commercialism in schools and television, marketing to children and the use of child psychology in advertising, and the creep of ads into every aspect of life. For more information, visit the Web site at http://www.essential.org/alert/.

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