Posts Tagged ‘United States’

Advertising And Celebrity

It used to be taboo for movie stars to do advertising for products in the United States. We never used to see our favorite movie star in commercials for Frosted Flakes. Catherine Zeta Jones recently broke this unspoken rule by appearing in a series of T-Mobile advertisements. While it is anyone prerogative on how they want to make money, I can understand why movie stars try to avoid getting involved in advertising for products or services. Charity advertising is one thing. Many movie stars do commercials and public service announcements for charities. However, hawking products for Madison Avenue might not be a good idea for movie stars. It can be difficult to play a serious cop role in your newest movie when you are known as the peanut butter guy from television. In short, movie stars and advertising just do not mix. Read the rest of this entry »

The 2006 World Cup Soccer Outlook

From the 9th of June to the 9th of July, the excitement and fan frenzy builds to a deafening crescendo. Soccer fanatics are on high alert. It is time to defend to no end the pride of Region and Country. This is big. No, it’s bigger than big. Considering the fact that soccer is the most popular sport in the world today, it is no jaw-dropping surprise that Soccer’s World Cup is actually the largest sporting event on the planet. Based on sheer numbers, fan attendance, television ratings, number of viewers, travel revenue, ticket sales and media coverage; there is no sporting event that even comes close to this one. If you take the NCAA Basketball Tournament, the World Series, the Super Bowl and the Olympics and add them all together, it would still not be as big as the World Cup! Three and a half billion people will be watching this tournament unfold in at least a dozen locations in Germany in 2006. Strangely enough, the past World Cup events have been all but ignored in the United States. This is rapidly changing as Americans get more familiar with this action-packed sport. Read the rest of this entry »