Ambush Marketing : An Ensnare Approach

Abstract

In the 20th century, major sporting events became extremely commercialized mostly through television commercials. Sponsorship is an important revenue source for sport teams and their affiliated organizations. It has provided various promotional advantages to corporations sponsoring sporting events. Increasing disillusionment with traditional television (TV) advertising methods and the capability to reach significant numbers of spectators have been the primary reasons that make corporations invest in sport sponsorship. This trend of increased investments in sport sponsorship has created both positive and negative consequences. The Ambush marketing is one of fields which generated controversies. Ambush marketers have continued to improve their tactics of ambush marketing strategy to gain publicity through mega sports events even without being the official sponsor. This research paper will discuss increasingly prevalent use of ambush marketing to deflect the audience's attention to ambusher and away from the sponsor to examine whether ambush marketing is indeed unethical or merely smart advertising. The paper will through light on the detrimental effect of ambush marketing.