Since ancient times with the Olympics in Ancient Greece, sports have brought people together. Sports are something that can connect people of all socioeconomic groups and unite them behind their favorite team. In the modern day, sports are marketed and used to promote a whole host of different brands. This, while seemingly innocent in nature, can be used for sinister ends in what is known as sportswashing.
Sportswashing is when authoritarian regimes use sports to distract from human rights abuses. Sportswashing is a major tool in the political playbook of authoritarian regimes, associating nations and groups positively with sports instead of their own negative actions. However, this technique is not always successful as in some cases the increased attention of hosting/promoting sporting events can end up being negative publicity and hurt the nation or group attempting sportswashing. Due to the subjective nature of advertising, no one can objectively judge the success or failure of an event. The most major example of sportswashing in recent history was the Qatar World Cup. However, many experts contend that the recent Men’s World Cup hosted in Qatar was a failure as it led to increases in international scrutiny of Qatar’s policies. These human rights abuses included dangerous conditions in the building of infrastructure for the tournament which was done by migrant workers. This backlash came from increased public awareness due to social media, athletes speaking out against oppressive regimes, and human rights groups speaking out. Another example of activism at the World Cup were the Iranian national team’s protests, where they chose not to sing the Iranian national anthem in protest of human rights abuses against women in their country.
Sports and their brands are also tied to another political tool called sports diplomacy. Sports diplomacy is in many ways the opposite of sportswashing as it is the use of sports and competition as a way to bring nations together for peace in opposition to sportswashing fostering nationalism. Just as sports bring people behind a team or league they can also foster cooperation and the concept of multilateralism. In a lot of cases, the distinction between sportswashing and sports diplomacy is in many cases very unclear. Thus, examples of sports diplomacy such as the World Cup, the NFL’s games in Europe and South America, and the NBA’s expansion efforts into China can also be examples of sportswashing and vice versa. This concept’s legitimacy has been disputed by experts and is still relatively new and under researched.
Sports as a whole are greatly influential over the views of people. That in turn is used by many different governments and organizations to further their political interests. This occurs both positively through sports diplomacy and negatively through sportswashing. There is no denying the immense influence of sports and their brands. As we look towards the future of Sports Marketing, the only question is will it be used for good or for evil?
