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Sponsorship is an interesting concept.

I remember a former TV presenter once giving a strongly-worded speech condemning the levels of advertising on network television. He made the point that advertising has never improved the quality of anything it has been attached to.

Not that I support that idea; working for a company that lives and dies by its advertising levels. I say advertise away! Please! And newspaper advertising is just so wonderful. It doesn’t interrupt anything, it doesn’t flash at you, and you don’t have to click on it to make it bugger off. It’s just the best advertising ever.

Anyway, it’s interesting how advertising infiltrates so many aspects of day-to-day life. It can be fun spotting the product placement in movies. This has been going on for years; hell, there’s Pepsi product placement in Bette Davis and Joan Crawford’s 1962 classic What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

But that had a lot to do with the back stage feud between the two co-stars.

That said, I became aware today of another insidious little sponsorship deal going on.

In a previous blog I mentioned the rules of cricket and the Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition; primary sponsor DLF – some sort of building company in India, I think.

In cricket when you hit the ball out of the ground on the full you get an automatic six runs. The commentators usually drool at this: “Oh, that’s a lovely shot, and that’s gone for six” or “And that’s six! Over the member’s stand and into the car park” or “A beautiful stroke there and it’s gone 10 rows back for six”.

Except now they all say: “And that’s a DLF maximum!”

Pardon? WTF is a DLF maximum? Well, of course I know, but why are you rebranding the sport with this sort of insidious crap? Where will it all end?

Which got me thinking: where else might you find such future sponsorship?

“…and the ball’s been passed to Ritchie McCaw and he’s over! Oh, that’s a lovely Big Mac five pointer by the All Blacks captain…”

“…that’s a swing and a hit and he’s made it to KFC country chicken first base…”

“…Beckham shoots, it’s a beautiful shot and yes! It’s a Vodafone magic point!”