Heineken & The 2012 Olympic Games

Nowadays a lot of companies sponsor sport events. For example, the Olympic Games and the Super Bowl are one of the biggest and most spectacular events, with a lot of sponsors involved. Many companies use such events as an opportunity to promote their business and products. These companies are often not even related to sports, this is called using 'marketing through sports'. Their aim is not to encourage people to practice sports, but to associate the big happening and famous sportsmen with their brand to gain publicity.

Heineken was granted an explicit beer-contract for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The beer-company will  sponsor the Olympic Games, provided that only Heineken beer will be served at the event. Heineken also stated that they will use the occasion to promote safe drinking.

I think that these big events are a good way to promote a product. Millions of people are watching the happing on  TV and live. This way you will gain a lot of publicity, sales opportunities and word-of-mouth advertising.

Nevertheless I think it seems strange when beer companies are sponsoring sport events. Beer and sports don't really match in my opinion. Sports is about being healthy and alcohol really doesn't fit to that. The fact that they will  advertise safe drinking doesn't change my opinion. I think it's more a trick to mask the fact they are associating a bad thing with a good thing. Drinking beer in my opinion is a bad habit and shouldn't be promoted trough positive things like sports.