Poker-sponsors-mainstream
Poker may seem to be becoming a more acceptable hobby and even an honorable profession through the eyes of society, but when we look at who’s backing the poker game, it seems only suitable for adults.
When was the last time you turned on the TV and saw some poker? The player’s are sometimes lathered with patches akin to NASCAR drivesr. Online poker sites and other advertisers buy space on players in hopes of attracting some attention to their product.
But there is more advertising than just on the player. When was the last time you saw a final table with Pepsi emblems on it? When was the official drink a PowerAde? Will there ever be a poker player on a box of Wheaties?
The truth is, these big corporate family-forward products are not one that are trying to associate themselves with the game of poker. Coca-Cola, a syrupy carbonated drink, sponsors athletes in the Olympics. Olympians don’t drink loads of soda, they have to keep in shape. But the fans drink soda, and lots of it. Coca-Cola is getting it’s brand out there and associating itself with a very positive image, one of hard work, determination, and physical and mental strength.
At the end of the World Poker Tour, Mike Sexton takes the final two players and toast them with bottles of Michelob Amber-Bock or Budweiser Select. The World Series of Poker is sponsored by Milwaukee’s Best Light beer. They know who the people sitting at home watching Poker on TV are, and it happens that the large majority are adults who drink alcohol.
The only places you do see Poker adds on TV seem to be on boxing and mixed-martial-arts matches. A Full Tilt Poker patch will be on the right leg of a fighter’s trunks while Condom depot will be stamped on his backside.
Poker is a game that is intended for adults. Casinos are adult arcades where salaries can get blown faster than a weekly allowance. And poker, though remarkably reaching a much wider audience than in years prior, is still associated with this seedy underworld of booze, tobacco and degenerates. Is this appropriate, or is it just unchangeable?
