David Kronke was appointed Mayor of Television after a bloodless coup in 2000. Since then, he has improved infrastructure, championed greater educational opportunities and fought for reforms that have utterly erased corruption and incompetence from the television industry. Since Mr. Kronke has ascended to power, Television is a far better place. NFL: Noxious Fools League
The NFL is forcing sideline photographers to wear vests covered in logos for Canon and Reebok.
Naturally, this is hacking off both photographers and news organizations who don’t want their photographers turned into walking advertisements before TV cameras, from which the football league profits.
The NFL justifies the logo’d vests with what seems to be some tortured logic: “(T)he Reebok and Canon logos are appropriate because the vests are made by Reebok and because Canon ‘has made the commitment to fund the cost of the vest.’ … Both logos are directly related to the manufacture of the vest. Given this, it is inaccurate to characterize them as advertising messages sold to NFL sponsors or others.” Well, yes, but why force photographers to wear vests at all? What's wrong with the traditional media laminate to ID photographers?
Next thing you know, the NBA will force baseline photographers to dress in the costumes of the home-team's mascot.
And anyway, the NFL further argues, they may be product-placement prostitutes, but they’re product-placement prostitutes with taste:
“If our goal had been media visibility, we would have allowed Canon to display its name in much larger letters on the back of the vests where it could more readily be seen by the television cameras that are located above and behind the photographers. Instead, 'Canon' appears in letters only 0.7 inches high, less than a quarter of the size of the NFL shield logo and no larger than the logo of Reebok, and actual manufacturer of the vest.”
Well, there you go: That’s why we’ll never see an NFL team again in Los Angeles – Hollywood photographers are too fashion-conscious to be seen in cheesy little logo-strewn vests unless they’re cheesy little logo-strewn vests of their own choosing. The NFL isn’t forcing players to wear logo’d uniforms because they know they’d catch hell from athletes who have their own sundry endorsement deals, and they’re not sticking logos on referees because Lenscrafters would be the only effective advertiser. So they’re forcing this on people who aren’t even on their payroll.
Stay classy, NFL, and remember: When engaging in something akin to whoring, only you’re forcing someone else to do the dirty work, the precise technical term is “pimping.”