Clubs are always looking for bigger and better shirt sponsorship, and whilst it might be upsetting to supporters, does it really influence us? United have Chevrolet, but does that mean United fans are going to buy Chevvys? Will Arsenal fans be making regular trips to Dubai? Will the Geordies all be taking out Wonga loans? will Chelsea fans all rush out to buy new TV's and printers? Of course not, its all about TV advertising. and if that means whatever club you support can afford to buy better players, so be it. It's immoral maybe, especially with some of the dubious sponsors. But it isn't going to influence the real supporters. Or is it ?
This Europe will not buy Chevy, as the cars dont suit the Euro market, so far east is the way forward for them
My sentiments to UnitedinRed. But with the USA's increasing desire for "soccer" , maybe it's for the States market too. Bet your life within the next 4 years the states will claim they invented the game anyway
My first ever music system was Sharpe because they sponsored United. Those were simpler days. I wouldn't buy anything by a united sponsor now on a point of principle.
It's all about image and credibility. The more people are exposed to a new brand, the more likely they are to consider it. That's the reason Coke and Pepsi dominate the soft drinks market - they are more expensive than all their rivals, and don't taste any better, but no one tries the cola brand they have never heard of, they go for the one that is advertised to f**k. No one will buy a Chevvy just because they are on Utd's shirt, but when it's time to buy a new car people are more likely to think "Chevrolet, I know them, let's consider this car" because they've seen them on Utd's shirt, and probably "Lincoln, who the f**k are they, not even going to bother looking at their cars" as they aren't advertised anywhere outside the US. Ditto people looking for financial services - more likely to consider Standard Chartered if they've seen all their Liverpool branding. And people taking flights will be more likely to consider Emirates alongside BA due to the Arsenal link, when they might not look at a near identical airline like Qatar Airways cos it doesn't have the same brand profile. It's even more pronounced when it comes to something like payday loans. Geordies won't all be dashing to Wonga because they are on the toon shirt, but some random punter who needs short term cash is more likely to think about Wonga having seen them on the shirt than any of the other hundreds of companies out there. The morality of it is up for debate, but it's simply a fact of modern society that if you don't advertise something, people don't see it and thus they don't consider it when making a decision. Particularly for something like payday loans when there are 240 generic companies all doing the same thing and the only way to differentiate themselves is through an ad campaign.
Good point swarbs. To be honest, none of it affects me, but the one I draw the line at the pay day loan merchants. Those parasites prey on people who are in serious financial stress, and use it out of desperation. Its all so easy for us to say dont use them, but some poor sods have no choice
My chevvy knowledge is severely restricted, as it is with most USA cars. But anr't the chevvies sold in the UK glorified daewoo's?
A lot of smaller model GM cars are outsourced from other car manufacturers. Wouldn't surprise me if at least some Chevvy's are rebadged Daewoo cars (or at least assembled by Daewoo). Despite being nominally an American company- an interesting stat: GM import more cars (mostly from Asia; Mitsubishi, Suzuki, etc) into the US than any other company... funnily enough: Toyota exports more cars from the US than any other company. Except for their larger or more powerful cars, or more luxury models/brands- most GM cars are made by cheap budget brand Asian manufacturers and just have Chevvy- or whatnot stamped on... (at least in the US... assume it's the same in the UK)
FYI... according to Wiki, you are right. Chevrolet's in Europe since 2005 have all been rebadged Daewoos!
Chevrolet never made any secret of this, in fact at the time they announced they would try to break into the European small car market in partnership with Daewoo.
Thanks Milk etc etc, that was a lucky guess, a neighbor had a daewoo, he spent more time driving the courtesy car. I had the same experience years ago with a TR7. Loved the car, despised the endless faults
