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European football under close scrutinybe double: commercial partners will take away theircontributions, while political actors will take away thelegitimacy of football sporting authorities. Broadcastershave also stated their aim to be associated only withevents whose ‘moral standards’ are unambiguous. Thefinancial stakes are such that these ‘customers’ have aconsiderable weight, influencing not only the logisticalorganisation of events but also the image of organisingauthorities. Football sporting authorities will besanctioned if they are unable to preserve commercialand symbolic qualities of sporting products. Playersand clubs undergo the same dual constraints. Theexample of Paris Saint Germain is revealing. In 2000,the Parisian football club created a foundation toengage with the community, and the integration ofunderprivileged youths in particular. However, somefans displayed violent behaviour, which received muchmedia coverage. With this in mind, the city of Paris –the owner of the Parc des Princes stadium and themost important and oldest supporter of the club –plans to reduce its support as the team and its imagedo not meet with what is expected from them. In thesame way, the obvious exploitation of players comingfrom Third World countries to play with Europeanclubs produced a strong reaction from the EuropeanCommission in 2003.As illustrated above, the ethical positioning is thuslargely dictated by pressure from stakeholders,whether they are political and public or commercialand private. Consequently, the fact that football eventproducers take ethical aspects into account no longerarises from a strategic choice to make a specificorganisation different, but from a vital need initiated bystakeholders – the need to respond to the emergenceof a new world, a world that is seeking transparencyand truth.Implications of sports ethical marketingThe stakeholder theory is most appropriate to integratethe concept of organisational ethics into managementissues (Caroll, 1989, 1999; Mercier, 2001; Madsen& Ulhoi, 2001). Its strategic quintessence is based onthe necessity of reconciling the conflicting interests ofthe stakeholders in order to ensure the survival of thesporting figures. Ethics is meaningful because itconcerns everybody; as for marketing, its purpose is toconvey the values shared with the stakeholders. Thusthis theory throws light upon the intricate interactionsbetween the actors aiming at implementing an ethicalprocess (Figure 2). Fulfilling the expectations of thestakeholders implies erasing the limits between theprivate and the public spheres in terms of ethicalobjectives. So, in order to be totally relevant, themeans used by the sporting authorities mustnecessarily be adapted to the social context. Takingethics into account in the marketing approach offootball figures is quite a strong signal towards twointerlinked major targets in terms of consequences.The cases of the media and the investors will not beanalysed in this section, because the implications ofethical marketing are less important for thesestakeholders.The first target concerned is the consumers who arealso citizens, fans and spectators of sporting events,and eventually paid workers. Beyond his personalconsumption, the individual wants to share commonvalues and emotions with the brand of goods he haspurchased – a brand owned by the sponsor. In theexperiential framework of consumption, marketingcorresponds to a new paradigm that says that thedevelopment of a brand is based on the co-productionof meaning and on the sharing of experiences withconsumers (Cova, 1995; Cova & Cova, 2001; Cova &Louyot-Gallicher, 2006; Hetzel, 2002; Holbrook &Hirschman, 1982; Langlois, 2002; Ritzer, 2005;Vargo & Lusch, 2004). It becomes part of the postmodernview in which consumption holds a crucialrole and has multiple functions such as re-establishingsocial links, building the individual’s identity accordingto the concept of learning, and meeting a need foremotions and experiences (Addis & Podesta, 2005;François-Lecompte & Valette-Florence, 2006). Thus,Nike, Adidas and Puma are brands exemplifyingdifferent lifestyles rather than simple products. In theirroles as sponsors, ethical breaches during a sportingevent or by a player will have repercussions both onRESEARCH PAPER● APRIL 2009 ● International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship239
European football under close scrutinyRESEARCH PAPERthe sales of sporting goods and on the socialrepresentation of brands (Kapferer, 1996). Thesebrands stand for values, laws and history; if their ‘soul’is smeared by scandal, the sales of goods will fall.Following the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Nike was hopingto sell 2.4 million replicas of the football shirts, 23million pairs of shoes and 10 million balls. In 2002,the victory of the Brazilian team, sponsored by Nike,did nothing but strengthen its leadership among theworld of sporting suppliers. A partner of FIFA since1970, Adidas used the 2005 Cup with its logo, as thesupplier of the official ball ‘Teamgeist’ (‘team spirit’);sales were forecast to soar by 50% compared with theprevious World Cup. Moreover, Adidas signed apartnership contract with UEFA for Euro 2008 and theChampions League.The second repercussion of the ethical marketing offootballing figures, linked to the one above, has to dowith the sponsors. Whether they are suppliers or not(e.g. Coca Cola), sponsors use football matcheswatched by millions of viewers as a showcase. Interms of image sponsoring, they show off their brandsin order to be known and to generate a closeness andemotions with the viewers. Sporting events are alsoopportunities to test their latest products. Finally, thereis also network sponsoring, since the brands takeadvantage of the events to stimulate their salesnetwork. This is why any ethical breaches will reflectbadly on the sponsors’ images, and will haverepercussions on the mental representation they havein their partners’ minds.Within the context of ethical marketing, we canobserve a beneficial hybridisation of wills of theshareholders and the stakeholders in order to fulfil acollective interest; it is a search for global meaning fedby the original sports values. The implications ofethical approach taken by the sporting authorities leadto repercussions in terms of image as well as in termsof sales for their stakeholders searching for moreauthenticity. Zinedine Zidane’s head-butt during theWorld Cup final is a case in point in terms of nonrespectfor sports ethics. In spite of the bad image theplayer gave of himself, the repercussions on thesponsors were limited for part of the public. If footballattempts to free itself from the ethical needs of itsstakeholders, the large financial means it currentlyenjoys will be going to other sports. And therefore theuse of ethical marketing managed by footballorganisations can be deemed a virtuous circle.ConclusionThere remains one question, however: is the ethicalapproach of sporting organisations sincere or is it asolution – or a fad, even – related to the currentenvironmental context (Gaski, 1999)? Even themarketing dimension of this approach is open tocriticism because no theoretical reconstruction hastaken place; only a mere extension of the originalmarketing model has occurred (Crane & Desmond,2002).In the last 20 years, sport has entered into a risingcommercial spiral due to the evolution in consumerbehaviour and new communication technologies.However, two major elements come to disturb theautonomy asserted by professional sport.Communities are expecting the application of ethicsby these organisations. This social demand alsoconcerns figures from the sporting world, publicauthorities and sponsors. The marketing consequencescannot be ignored; actions must be in congruencewith an ethical dialogue. However, the public ofmainland Europe are still attached to a sport bearinghuman and social values, and look beyond thepackaged spectacle. In order to preserve theirlegitimacy, football’s governing bodies must play theirprimary role of guardians of the sport’s central values,by imposing the respect of a true deontology on allstakeholders and shareholders (clubs, players,sponsors, fans, etc.).Indeed, in 2006, an independent report 7 written byArnaut for the European Union considers ethicalrecommendations in terms of “corporate governance7 http://www.independentfootballreview.com/doc/A3619.pdf240 International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship ● APRIL 2009 ●
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