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Image problems are a problem for fossil fuel and carbon-intensive industries. As environmental awareness grows, energy and mining companies are striving to maintain control over spiralling public esteem.
Greenwashing has been a popular strategy for companies trying to hide their harmful effects on the natural environment for decades. Governments around the world have started to use it. LegislateIt is not recommended.
Sportswashing is a subtler practice that remains in the marketing toolkit. Sponsoring sporting events or teams allows organisations to harness the positive effects of sport to remove negative associations with issues such as human rights abuses and environmental degradation.
Australia has many mining and energy companies that partner with sporting organizations from the grassroots to the elite. Our research shows that many mining and energy companies have partnered with sporting organizations from the grassroots up to the elite. It has been shown, sports sponsorship is a powerful way to channel the energy of sporting “atmospheres” into brands, diverting attention from firms’ roles in furthering climate change.
So as Australia clinches another Ashes series, let’s take a closer look at how official partners such as Alinta Energy can benefit from sponsoring sporting events.
How does sportswashing actually work?
Sporting events have long been a site to exert “soft power”. “. challenge negative global images. Take Qatar: in the lead up to this year’s FIFA World Cup, the nation has taken opportunities to RestructureIts reputation on a variety of issues, including human rights.
EPA/Noushad Thekkayil
Read more:
The World Cup – an exercise in soft power that did not go to plan for Brazil
Sponsorship of sports can be used to support similar business goals. Energy and mining giants like Adani, Rio Tinto, Origin, WoodsideAll sponsor sports leagues and teams, from local to international.
Our research showsSponsoring sport events is a way for companies to be associated with emotions. Over time, sports fans come to associate sponsors’ logos and names with these experiences such that sponsors’ brands become stores of this emotional energy, rather like batteries.
This benefits companies because when people feel emotions in relation to a brand, they’re more likely to remember that brand and become loyal customers. Simultaneously, these positive emotional associations can distract from companies’ problematic connections to a range of issues including climate change and pollution.
Is the tide changing against sportswashing
In 2021 Critical reportThere were more than 250 sponsorship and advertising agreements between corporate polluters and the top sports teams and organisations in the world.
The reportThe New Weather Institute has implicated a variety of Australian sports events and leagues, including the Australian Football League, Australian Baseball League and the 2021 Australian Tennis Open.
Some condemned the Australian Open for accepting gas giant Santos as an “official natural gas partner”. Last year, Comms Declare was established as an industry body for advertising and marketing. The decision was made was at odds with Tennis Australia’s commitment to the United Nations Framework for Climate Action through Sports.
Surf Life Savings Australia is also available CriticisedAmpol sponsorship, not least because of the fossil fuel industry. threatensThese are the very places that surf lifesaving call home.
These critical voices are being heard by sportspeople as well. Former Australian rugby captain and conservationist David Pocock last year criticised Rugby Australia’s decision to accept Santos as the Wallabies’ major sponsor, likening itSponsorship of sport by the tobacco company in the 1980s
What does this all mean for sport sponsorships
As sportswashing is more well-known, we believe that sponsorship deals will attract greater scrutiny. ConsumersInvestors and other companies. This will have major implications for companies that sponsor partnerships that are perceived as sportswashing.
In recent years, sports enthusiasts have been ProtestFor a variety of reasons, you can take action against owners of sports teams and event organisers. Research shows that activism can harm revenue and share pricesFor companies.
Continue reading:
How repressive governments and states use’sportswashing to remove stains from their reputation
Sport activism can also damage brand image and cause negative media attention and government attention.
In some cases, activists were able to demand policy changes. Liverpool FC supporters forcibly forced their owners to scrap ticket price increases and issue an ad apology. It remains to see if activists can bring about environmental sportswashing reforms.
However, it might be time for event managers, owners, and sports governing bodies to reconsider donations from environmentally unsustainable businesses. Sponsorship is against the cultural value of sporting events as well as the benefits that sport brings to society at all levels.
Read more:
Greenwash: a critical exposé highlights need for action
