Brought To You By........

  

Have you noticed that there is a corporate sponsor for EVERYTHING now? In the sports world, everything is corporate sponsored. I was watching a bit of the Yankee game tonight on television. The pre-game show was sponsored by Budweiser, the starting lineups were brought to us by Ricoh printers, the scouting report by Geico insurance, there is a Gillette player of the game, a Sprint call to the bullpen when a pitching change is made, etc. It is overkill! Not to mention the dozens of billboards and electronic signs at the ballpark. Not sure about you, but a "Sprint call to the bullpen" isn't going to get me to switch my cell phone service to Sprint, nor am I going to dump my Grey Goose Vodka to buy Budweiser because the pre-game show is sponsored by Bud.

Many times there is NO correlation between the advertising and the event taking place. What does GEICO insurance have to do with a scouting report? Gillette shaving cream with the player of the game? I don't get it. I would be a marketing whiz....only I would go the celebrity route. Here are my ideas:

The Buddy Holly flying school
The Paris Hilton School for the gifted
The Roseanne Barr diet center
The Michael Jackson day care center
The Harry Chapin driving school
The Moby hair replacement center
The Britney Spears parenting school
The Ike Turner shelter for abused women
The Naomi Campbell boxing school
The Steve Garvey planned parenthood clinic
The Ray Charles shooting range
The Mike Tyson speech therapy center
The Dick Cheney hunting school
The Magic Johnson health center
The Christopher Reeve school of dance
The Barry Bonds "Juicer"
The OJ Simpson kitchen knife collection
Billy Joel's non-alcoholic brew
The Mama Cass Honey Baked Ham Company
Angelina Jolie adoption center
Tom "Cruise Convertibles" furniture collection
The Jeffery Dahmer mini refrigerator
The Joey Buttafuoco after school activities program
The George Bush School of public speaking

Let's hear some of yours!