Drugs and sports marketing Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Drugs and sports marketing - Literature review Example Mottram (2011) summarized the fundamental reasons into four, namely: 1) for legitimate therapeutic use (prescription drug or self-medication); 2) performance continuation (treatment of sports injuries); 3) recreational/social use (legal and illegal); 4) performance enhancement. (p16) These classifications underscore the sheer expanse of the coverage of drug-use in sports and one may be sure the industry that supplies the requirements is lucrative as well. The extant literature on this theme – drugs and sports marketing – is equally expansive and comprehensive owing to this particular aspect in addition to the degree of attention it receives. Sports is a popular form of entertainment today. These two variables combined demonstrate how drugs and its use affect the public image of sports and in the process illustrate to how it is perceived and, hence, marketed to its public. The following sections outline the key issues of this topic in the body of literature. These issues include: the ban/restrictions on drug use based on ethical and moral considerations alone; the fairness of performance-enhancing drugs in competition; and how drugs negatively affect the public image of sports. Key Issues Balancing Act Many observers and scholars underscore that it is imperative to distinguish the use of drugs in sports as Mottram had previously done. The reason behind this lies in the way drugs are perceived by both policymakers and the public that patronize the sports industry. There are several studies that argue how the negative connotation of drug-use often put athletes and sporting bodies in dangerous disadvantage. For example, Fost (1986) cited the classic case of Rick DeMont, an American long-distance swimmer, who had to give up his Olympic gold because it was discovered that before the competition, he took a routine antiasthmatic medications which contained ephedrine – a prohibited substance. (p5) The idea, with DeMont’s example, is that if t he aversion to drugs is misplaced, it could become unjust to the athletes themselves. This is also true with regards to the way the private lives of athletes are scrutinized and dragged in the way sports are regulated. This is represented by the constant debate with regards to the addition of recreational drugs as part of the restrictions in the International Olympic Committee’s drug-testing requirements. Schneider and Butcher (2001), commenting on marijuana use by athletes, stressed: The IOC has no good grounds for including marijuana on a restricted list, or for testing for its use. The mandate of the IOC for drug testing is to ensure that athletes compete fairly†¦ Some people might argue that the use of marijuana is illegal (and perhaps also immoral) and so the IOC is justified in testing for its use. But what possible grounds are there for suggesting that the IOC has a role in enforcing the law? (p132) The difficulty for marketing here is how to reconcile the ethical and the practical needs of the stakeholders. A crucial position in this case is how many researchers find athletes as role models for individuals especially for young people. For instance, Martin and Bush’s (2000) findings - in their investigation on the role models for teenagers today - placed athletes on equal footing with direct role models, the parents as well as their favorite entertainers. (p441) Waddington, argued that drugs connote - in the perspective of the wider public –

Casual Argument Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Casual Argument - Essay Example t this point that the act of US in going to war and continuing the war has been act of self-defense and preventing more terrorist attacks in its homeland, hence it can be stated that continuing the war and eventually ending it successfully is a strategic US move that is aimed in making the American life safer. To say that one will be safer is to be assured that there will be less peace disturbance than expected within a given time frame. Since a time frame may be divided into short term and long term, this paper asserts that in the short term, while US will have to address the short-run reactions of its enemy, especially the effects on a considerable of Muslim community who may see martyrdom in the hanging of Sadam Hussien. Dickey and Barry talked of the feeling a little safer for US, at least for a short time, when the world has witnessed the putting to death of Sadam Hussein of Iraq but they seem now to paint a different picture by their reports of not seeing many American flags in Iraq, except on soldiers uniforms due to the U.S. commanders’ decision that the American insignias might offend local sensibilities of the Iraqis. They even cited a mob in the dusty Iraqi town of Fallujah displaying a new and shocking image to bear in mind the war by the slaughter of four American civilian security men, by burning them, butchering them, dragging them through the streets, and then eventually hanging pieces of them from power lines and the girders of a bridge.1 In dramatizing the effects of the war, the same authors described the incident as simply gruesome as they convey the message of â€Å"inhuman brutality of a worldwide terrorist campaign that seems to be spreading.†2 Given also the report s that U.S. soldiers are being attacked, with at least one dying every day; it would only mean in the short term, that a less than safer scenario for the US might be expected. It does not take too much time however to allow things to normalize in Iraq. Since the US has