| IS THIS CRICKET? |
| Monday, December 03, 2007 |
George Bernard Shaw's quote on cricket "22 fools are playing and 22000 fools are watching". Apparently it is the watchers who are made fools of by the innumerable advertisements. Advertisements have been vying for screen space with the match telecast. You start watching the match right from the start and after a certain point of time, you actually begin to wonder if what you are watching is really a cricket match.
Picture this--During the Twenty20 world cup match between India and England, everyone was watching with bated breath as to whether Yuvraj Singh, after 5 consecutive sixers, would pull off another one. He did so, successfully, and the next second, the ads came pouring in. This, after the ball had not even crossed the boundary. If such ads in the shortest version of cricket can be irritating enough, just imagine the situation in the case of Test matches.
Before the 2003 World Cup, Set Max went around advertising that every ball of every match would be telecast live and exclusive. However, it so happened during the India-England league match that when the match was switched to, after a string of ads, the batsmen had completed the first run and were scampering for the second. It took some time to figure out who was bowling that particular over.
Compare this with the New Zealand-South Africa one-dayer, that was telecast, yesterday, on Ten Sports. No clutter (of ads)! The problem is not with the channels but with the teams. Matches or series featuring India attract the greatest number of sponsors. With the BCCI's cash registers ringing, thanks to the sponsors, Indian cricket has never had it so good. A look around the stadium would present the true picture--Airtel's logo on the grass,Vodafone's logo on the boundary boards and Reliance's ad on the screen. Then Nokia advertising its 1200 and 1208 mobiles, Reliance flaunting its 999-rupee mobile and LG with its slim,silver mobile.
Reliance Mobile's catchphrase aptly sums up this situation--"Yeh India ka Cricket Hai"Labels: cricket |
Property of Sheks @ 11:49 am   |
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