Why No Car Sponsors On WWE Programming?

[Guest wootman]

I've noticed that there are never any commercials for cars on WWE TV. Also, I've noticed that there are never any commercials for e-harmony.com and that sort of stuff. The commercials I do see are always for like Skittles, Lugz Boots or video games.

 

If you think about it, don't wrestling fans drive cars? How else would they get to the events? I think it's unfair that no car company wants to have a commercial on WWE TV when in fact, a lot of wrestling fans do drive cars. I looked at how much money commercials during Smackdown cost and Smackdown was like second to last, only beating out Veronica Mars I think. Speaking of that show, I wonder why Veronica Mars does so low with advertising dollars? Anyways, it's kinda of a downer that your favorite show is so looked down upon.

 

Well, when I watch WWE TV, I usually look at the commercial, but I hardly really buy whatever these companies are trying to sell. I do buy Starburst candy, but I'd buy it anyways even if I didn't see that commercial with the boy making out with his Starburst science project, freaking out the girl. Wrestling fans (and Veronica Mars fans) just like watching their show and not giving a flip about the commercials? I don't know, is this a problem or something? Well sorry, but I don't have money right now to buy these things! Although, even if I did, I probably wouldn't anyways, but that's just one person and it doesn't reflect other wrestling fans.

 

I really don't care about the WWE's pockets, but knowing that WWE gets so little for their commercials compared to others makes me think that what I watch is lowly, and so thus I am lowly too. It's annoying to think that sometimes.

 

Anyways, I think at the very least, their should be some car commercials on WWE TV seeing how I would think that most wrestling fans drive cars. Perhaps with the move to USA, NBC and Telemundo, that will happen? On Spike TV, it's never gonna happen, but on those channels, I think it's a better possibility.

[Guest *KNK*]

Most companies don't want to cater to the WWE fanbase now that it's not a "in" thing.

 

The stereotype of wrestling fans being overweight, trailer park losers is a stigma that alot of companies don't want to connect with.

[Dangerous A 0]

WWE doesn't help itself by putting on a raunchy product, which scares away advertisers and their dollars. Add to that the stigma that most wrestling fans, even ones who drive cars, are in the middle to low income brackets, you start to see why companies like car companies don't want to give their dollars to wrestling.

[Golgo 13 0]

Basically. If WWE doesn't take themselves and their product seriously and continue to perpetuate the stereotype, then why should the advertisers flock to them?

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Vince did an interview recently where be basically begged GM to run ads on WWE programming. Can't remember where the interview was from though.

[Guest wootman]

It must be a huge blow to Vince's massive ego that no car company seems to want to touch his programming. He must hate what he can't control. It must really burn him up inside.

 

I too think that Vince would get on his knees if it meant getting a car sponsorship. Nobody in wrestling can make Vince beg on his knees, but General Motors or Ford or whatever car company probably could make it happen.

[snuffbox 0]

He wouldnt have to suck Henry Ford's mojo if he he'd just put out a somewhat respectable product.

 

Cars, beer, etc all spend huge money to run ads during stupid reality series', boxing matches, talk shows, etc.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

Most companies don't want to cater to the WWE fanbase now that it's not a "in" thing.

 

The stereotype of wrestling fans being overweight, trailer park losers is a stigma that alot of companies don't want to connect with.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

*cough* NASCAR *cough*

 

Oh wait, NASCAR needs cars to work.

[Golgo 13 0]

NASCAR also has an unfathomable following which WWE can't currently compete with and a long, mutually beneficial relationship with car and parts manufacturers. Compared to NASCAR, these companies have virtually nothing to gain in a relationship with WWE.

[Just John 0]

I think I've seen Dodge ads on Raw before. Like the one where the kid says "Hemi" or where those two rednecks' car breaks down and one of them develops a gay crush on the guy in the dodge giving them a lift.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

I really don't care about the WWE's pockets, but knowing that WWE gets so little for their commercials compared to others makes me think that what I watch is lowly, and so thus I am lowly too. It's annoying to think that sometimes.

 

It is, and you are. So it's not annoying, it's true. Very, very true.

[iggymcfly 0]

My dog barks a lot.

 

This statement is true.

 

However, the truth of the statement does not detract from how annoying it is.

[Golgo 13 0]

I think I've seen Dodge ads on Raw before. Like the one where the kid says "Hemi" or where those two rednecks' car breaks down and one of them develops a gay crush on the guy in the dodge giving them a lift.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yeah, and come to think of it, I believe Scion may have had ads at some point also. That's it, close the thread now.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

More importantly than the redneck stereotype is the damage done by the PTC.

 

Coca-Cola used to advertise on Raw back in 99, so did Dodge, IIRC. That was during the raunchiest Russo days. The deal was that Vince would give them the eyeballs of the vital 18-30 set, and they wouldn't ask him any questions about how he's getting their attention.

 

Then the PTC sent out inflated statistics about what was being shows (each crotch chop was a seperate sexual innuendo, among other things) and that scared all the mainstream names away except for Castrol and M&M/Mars.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

The PTC's effect on WWE was minor at best, considering that WWE's best financial year came about the year following the PTC deal happening.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

My dog barks a lot.

 

This statement is true.

 

However, the truth of the statement does not detract from how annoying it is.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I like how you try to contradict anything I say, no matter how useless the reply is. I like the attention. However, the key words in what he said were "it makes me think", as if it is something that is in his mind rather than being a reality. The next sentence (same paragraph) had the words "it think" following it, therefore the thoughts are connected. "My dog barks a lot" isn't analogous, because what you said is a fact while his is an impression. What I said was a fact.

 

Why is it annoying, anyways? You watch shit; you willingly watch shit. They knowingly put out shit because you will willingly watch it. They appeal to the lowest common denominator. They are the worst television show on today. There are no shows on TV that have worse writing and acting than WWE RAW and Smackdown. So what sort of person watches the worst show on television? A stupid person, of course. And that's why they never get big money for advertisements - who wants to invest money appealing to stupid people? And who would want to associate themselves with a show that feeds stupid people shit? Especially car companies? I imagine Wrestling Fans must be on the bottom of the foodchain when it comes to public image. Even Star Wars fans, with their lightsabers and all, get more respect from advertisers than wrestling fans. And really, as someone who has been around wrestling fans for an extended period of time, I have to agree 100%. LOTC says being around wrestling fans makes him feel smarter, but me? I feel dumber. But I am not annoyed one bit because that's the reality of the situation and I chose to be around them and I can choose not to in the future.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

From Sex, Lies, and Headlocks, a pretty darn good wrestling book if I've read one:

 

---

 

Mark Kaline

Manager, Media Services

Ford Central Media

 

Mr. Brent Bozell:

I am writing you in response to the letter you sent to Mr. Jacques Nasser regarding Ford Motor Company's participation in the UPN program "WWF SmackDown!" We share your concern regarding such programming and as such, Ford Motor Company does not participate in this program on a national basis. In fact, we steer clear of network wwrestling programs overall.

 

John G. Clark

Chief Advertising Officer

Dr. Pepper/Seven Up

 

Dear Mr. Bozell,

It is our belief that the placement of any of our advertising on any telelvision program should not be equated with our support of any theme, storyline or content. However, your comments do greatly concern us. Since the beginning of the year we have discussed both sides of the issue at length. The programming is extremely targeted to reach the teen audience. On the other hand, the content of the show has steadily deteriorated in both it's quality and entertainment value. As a result Dr. Pepper/Seven-Up made ad corporate decision not to advertise it's brands in any type of wrestling programming.

 

Carol A. Sanger

Vice President, Corporate Communications

Federated Department Stores

 

Dear Mr. Bozell,

Let me assure you that the day any of our stores sign on to sponsor world wrestling is a day to expect blizzard conditions in hell.

 

(...)

 

In a small office building in Arlington, Virginia, fifty researchers spend their days videotaping every show in prime time for a weekly report published by the nonprofit Media Research Cener, a creation of Brent Bozell III, a conservative commentator whose father was an adviser to both Joseph McCarthy and Barry Goldwater. Before he syndicated a newspaper column, Bozell had dabbled in politics as finance director of Pat Buchanan's 1992 campaign for president. After that he founded the MRC and its fax-happy cousin, the Hollywood-based Parents Television Council. Though tiny, the PTC made a minor splash targeting a syndicated show with Howard Stern. When UPN alloted 40 percent of it's advertising budget for promoting SmackDown! in the fall of 1999, Bozell decided to go after the WWF, too.

 

An indication that Bozell would be more than a nuisance came when he sent out a mass mailing and received a reply from Coca-Cola, where there was already high-level concern about the WWF. The bottler, which had pulled it's ad dollars out of Raw earlier in the summer, had been promised that SmackDown! would be a toned-down version of it's cable counterpart. But the first few episodes left Coke's executive's feeling hoodwinked. There was the episode in which Mark Henry's sexual travails took an inexplicable dark turn with the story-line admission that he'd been having incestuous sex with his sister since they were eight. And the match where Terri Runnels and recent arrival Ivory wrestled a "hard-core" match in a shower stall dressed in thong panties. (It ended with Ivory burning an iron into Terri's back.) The reply to Bozell, from a lieutenant of chairman M. Douglas Ivester, expressed Coke's dismay. It was severing it's two-year relationship with McMahon's company.

 

At UPN, Dean Valentine barely paid any attention to the flap because he'd been down this road before. While serving as the president of network television for Disney, he'd green-lighted the episode of Ellen in which Ellen DeGeneres kissed another woman on-screen. Between the Baptists that already hated Disney, the talk show demagogues who harped on the decline of American values, and the idealogues in Congress who loved bashing Hollywood because it helped them raise money, that show had become his gold standard for heartburn. Bozell was a hiccup by comparison. Valentine also didn't have much of a financial stake in the PTC's call for a boycott. In an unusual agreement, he'd allowed the WWF to sell it's own ads in exchange for giving UPN a guaranteed cut of the proceeds. UPN gets the same amount of money whether Coke came or left.

 

McMahon, on the other hand, had an enormous stake. Coke represented 3 percent of his advertising revenue; if other advertisers followed suit, he'd be left having to scramble to cover his UPN guarantees. At first he behaved badly, calling Coke's move "discriminatory, hypocritical and an affront to free speech" and "it's worst decision since New Coke." But the publicity from his shoot-from-the-hip remarks only helped Bozell as he continued lobbying advertisers - from the U.S. Army to MCI. Not suprisingly, McMahon was more contrite by the time he spoke to the Wall Street Journal on November 29. He had heard the verdict of the advertising community, he said. "From now on you'll see less aggression, less colorful language, less sexuality." The concession wasn't only designed to stem the flight of money out of the show. It was also timed to impact the talks that he was having about his long-term future in television.

[SuperJerk 0]

Isn't there a discrepancy between who actually watches wrestling (I'm thinking men in their late 20s and early 30s, based on some reports), and who the ads are aimed at (teenagers)?

[spman 0]

If you have any original recordings of WWF Superstars / Challange / Prime Time Wrestling on tape from the 80's / 90's you'll notice that the products advertised back then were essentially the same back then as they are today. M&M / Mars, GNC, ConAgra Foods, Acclaim Entertainment (when they still existed), and JVC have been longtime supporters of the WWE, have been running commercials for their products on WWE since the 80's, and still do today.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Im just tired of seeing the same commercials over and over and over and over and over..

[MrRant 0]

Any of the car ads you are seeing right now are local spots put in by your cable/sat operator.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

Wrestling fans have money. We churn 100's of dollars for tickets, merchandise, and PPV's. The reason most of us wastch wrestling is because we yearn for the good old days when wrestling was both competitive and entertaining. Most of the time we're dissapointed.

[AndrewTS 0]

Most companies don't want to cater to the WWE fanbase now that it's not a "in" thing.

 

The stereotype of wrestling fans being overweight, trailer park losers is a stigma that alot of companies don't want to connect with.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

*cough* NASCAR *cough*

 

Oh wait, NASCAR needs cars to work.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

NASCAR's public image is also hell of a lot better than WWE's. They've made huge efforts to change it in the past 5 years that paid off immensely.

 

In the meantime, it could be argued WWE's made their image even worse.

[Guest *KNK*]

Most companies don't want to cater to the WWE fanbase now that it's not a "in" thing.

 

The stereotype of wrestling fans being overweight, trailer park losers is a stigma that alot of companies don't want to connect with.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

*cough* NASCAR *cough*

 

Oh wait, NASCAR needs cars to work.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

NASCAR's public image is also hell of a lot better than WWE's. They've made huge efforts to change it in the past 5 years that paid off immensely.

 

In the meantime, it could be argued WWE's made their image even worse.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

NASCAR also has the ability to advertise and promote nearly 100 brands and companies during each of their telecasts and thats not including commericial time. They have multiple prime time television slots on network television(real networks like FOX and NBC, not UPN) and those telecasts have outdrew Hockey, Basketball and Baseball at times.

 

Also considering the actual fanbase of Nascar isn't in the lower income bracket like Wrestling fans are, companies are willing to fork a hefty sum for those commericials.

 

To compare the two is completely wrong because the fanbase is different and the business plan and execution of it are completely different.

 

You can't use the old stereotype of Nascar fans anymore because it's not legit, while wrestlings stereotypes largely ring true.

[Exslade ZX 0]

If it makes you feel any better, a car sponsor ALWAYS comes on right after Smackdown here.

 

It's always those like, really low budget, local car salesman commercials too.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

NASCAR also has the ability to advertise and promote nearly 100 brands and companies during each of their telecasts and thats not including commericial time.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't understand why they've never sold out locations around the ring than they do. You have this big flat ring, all those little turnbuckle pads, etc. Why not sell some ad space?

[Dandy 0]

NASCAR also has the ability to advertise and promote nearly 100 brands and companies during each of their telecasts and thats not including commericial time.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't understand why they've never sold out locations around the ring than they do. You have this big flat ring, all those little turnbuckle pads, etc. Why not sell some ad space?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Have you sent that to WWE? I bet they would consider it. I bet some big budget movies would advertise like they do with baseball and such.

[Guest *KNK*]

NASCAR also has the ability to advertise and promote nearly 100 brands and companies during each of their telecasts and thats not including commericial time.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't understand why they've never sold out locations around the ring than they do. You have this big flat ring, all those little turnbuckle pads, etc. Why not sell some ad space?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Have you sent that to WWE? I bet they would consider it. I bet some big budget movies would advertise like they do with baseball and such.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Didn't Slim-Jim paste it's logo all over WCW's turnbuckles during the Halloween Havoc ppv events (in addition to Savage wearing his Slim Jim outfits?)

[MillenniumMan831 0]

They also had the Slim Jim Challenge Tournament in 1995.

[Guest Brian]

It's not like they probably don't notice it. Other groups, like UFC, have done similar things. I'm doubting they get the calibre of advertisers they want to shell out for those type of ads.