Walking advertisements – the tragedy of IPL capitalism

I am enjoying the IPL…it make the game fast and exciting and completely in sync with our demands on time…and in the final analysis, I believe that the T-20 gives cricket a fighting chance against other sports that are competing for our eyeball and attention – F1 and football mainly and which were slowly gaining ground. Cricket needed to move away from the leisurely gentleman game that the purists keep raving about and move towards giving people what they really need – a complete fast paced entertainment package.

Having said that, what is really disturbing to me, as a viewer and a fan is the level of commercialization that has taken place.

It would seem that in order to cash in the popularity of the game, every available space is being used to make money.

 

Look at the player’s jerseys and even their trousers. A jersey was supposed to something that a player takes pride in, something that they would cherish. That is why, even if there were sponsors, they would be a small addition to the apparel. The player’s identity was more important.

Looking at the player’s jerseys in this tournament, one would be forgiven for thinking that they have been specifically employed by companies to display their wares…there would be atleast ten sponsors on the jerseys and it gives a very tawdry feeling to the proceedings – looks like a glossy advertisement brochure or market sale in progress, in human form.

Not only that, they haven't even spared the player’s names. At the  back, the name has been relegated to secondary position as the sponsor take the prime location. So, in most of the camera frames, we see the sponsor’s name and not the player’s, which is the intention anyway.

What makes it worse is the blatant break of ten minutes that is given after 10 overs, ostensibly for ‘strategic thinking’. Either the organizers take us for fools or worse, they don't give a damn. Its sponsors over the game and the fans.

Money making has never been so blatant and so unapologetic as it is being demonstrated. If I started by saying that the format might save the game, its this blatant disregard for the spirit of the game by over-commercialization that might accelerate the hammering of the final nail in its coffin.

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