The Olympic Games

Paper Summary:

This paper relates the history of the Olympic Games and the increasing significance of income from the media and other sources, which has led to the issue of commercialization and corporate sponsorship of the Games. The writer then asserts that the Olympic committee's business activities have diminished the Olympic spirit and contends that this commercialization has resulted in the extravagant enhancement of the economy of the host countries, ubiquitous commercial branding and messaging, sponsorship by companies that do not promote healthy living, association with companies that violate human rights and the inequality of the allocation of revenues---all of which violate the spirit of the Olympic Games.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Development of Commercialization
Intentional Olympic Committee Budget
Impact of Media
Commercialized Sporting Display
Olympic Business Mismatches the Ideals
Undermining Professed Ideals
Promotion of Unhealthy Living
Violation of Human Rights
Inequality in Allocation of Resources
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"The Summer Olympics held in 1936 in Berlin were the first events to be aired on television, though limited to local audiences. The Winter Olympics held in 1956 were the first globally televised games and the subsequent winter sports had their rights of broadcast auctioned for the first moment to specialized broadcasting networks. For instance the CBS allocated nearly three hundred and ninety four thousand dollars for American rights and the EBU allocated six hundred and sixty thousand dollars."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Buckley, William. Olympic Talk-Commercialization of the Olympics. 2 Sept. 1996. 9 July 2009. < http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n16_v48/ai_18614125/>
• Cooper-Chen, Anne. Global Entertainment Media. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2005.
• Landry, Keith. The Olympic Games. 2004. 9 June 2009. < http://www.englishclub.com/esl-articles/olympic-games.htm>
• Karp, Craig. Is the Olympic Spirit Dead? 3 Oct. 2000. 9 June 2009.< http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/932378.stm>
• Roche, Maurice. Mega-Events and Modernity. New York: Rutledge, 2000.

More papers on The Olympic Games:

• Essay # 62919 : "The Olympic Games"
• Research Paper # 68951 : "Economic Aspects of the Olympic Games"
• Analytical Essay # 128010 : "Controversy and the Olympic Games"

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