Now's Not the Time

In the US, advertising is king. The advertisers have the power and it's hard to find anything in daily life that they haven't yet got their grubby hands on.





I've talked before about the power of product placement in the US, particularly in their version of 'The Apprentice'. Thankfully, that kind of advertising is illegal in the UK but not in the States.
In Donald Trump's televised job interview, you've essentially got one big 40 minute television advert.
In a typical example of said advert, the contestants will pick up and brand-new Pontiac Solstice, then they'll drive their brand-new Pontiac Solstice to the local 'Best Buy'. Once they get to 'Best Buy', they'll stand in front of a sign that says 'Best Buy' and then wander around 'Best Buy' picking up lots of 'Best Buy' bargains from the helpful 'Best Buy' sales assistant. Then, once they've got lots of bulging 'Best Buy' shopping bags, they'll get in their brand-new Pontiac Solstice and leave 'Best Buy'. Once they are back home, they realise that they left the credit card at 'Best Buy' and so they'll drive their brand-new Pontiac Solstice back to 'Best Buy'. Once they get back to 'Best Buy', they'll explain to the helpful 'Best Buy' store manager that they left the credit card in 'Best Buy' and whilst they helpful 'Best Buy' manager looks for the credit card, the contestant will wait in the 'Best Buy' store and tell the cameraman that he lost the card in 'Best Buy', whilst deliberately standing in front of a TV screen with the 'Best Buy' logo.

You get the idea.

It's also a problem in sport. You have the shirt sponsors, the stadium sponsors, the kit sponsors, the stand sponsors, the mascot sponsors, the pitch sponsors, the player sponsors, the mascot sponsors, the cheerleader sponsors, the programme sponsors, the drink sponsors and the dugout sponsors in the UK and every other sporting market, but across the pond they've gone one better.

Next season, the Chicago White Sox baseball team will commence all their homes games at the time of eleven minutes past seven. That's right, 7:11. Not a normal time like 7:00, 7:30, 7:45 or 8:00, but all matches at U.S Cellular Field will commence at the exact time of eleven past seven.
The reason? A sponsorship deal with the convenience store chain 7-11.

Whilst the rest of the world might think that such an exact time is just one stupid American idea too many, apparently the games would normally kick-off at the equally less normal time of 7:07pm

To us in the UK, start times have to be on a quarter hour. Anything other than that is, quite frankly, crazy talk. Our football starts at 3:00pm or 7:45pm, our rugby starts at 3:30pm or 8:00pm. It's a simple system that suits the fans, TV and sponsors. None of this 7:08 or 4:52 business. Most fans struggle with Radio Five Live's football phone-in - 6:06.

It's actually a good deal that 7-11 have got mind. A company spokesman said:

"Every time the media announces the game's start time it will be a gentle reminder of our sponsorship,"

It's quite a good idea on the face of it, although all it takes is an awkward TV presenter to say "eleven past seven" or the local paper to put 19:07. Still, marks must be awarded for effort.

We can all rest assured in this country that we aren't yet fed this diet of excessive marketing. I dare say the day will come but until then, we can all take pride in the fact that we don't have to dance to the corporate tune.