A worthy sponsor
This news is a few weeks old, but I found it worth posting for its significance.
Image from Yahoo! News.
From the International Herald Tribune:
FC Barcelona’s fame as the only major European (football/soccer) team not to wear advertising on the front of its shirts is over.
Yet the European champion is delighted by the groundbreaking manner it
has broken with tradition — through an agreement to publicize UNICEF…
Under a deal bearing the slogan ‘Barcelona, more than a club, a new
global hope for vulnerable children,’ the Catalan team will annually
contribute €1.5 million (US$1.9 million) to UNICEF humanitarian
projects.
This year’s donation will be employed for AIDS education programs in Swaziland, a country stricken by the disease…‘On the one hand, Barcelona will incorporate on its shirt something it
hasn’t done in more than 106 years of history, the logotype of an
organization,’ (Barcelona president Joan Laporta) said. ‘On the other, this is an unprecedented
agreement because for the first time a soccer club has positioned
itself as more than a club, as a charitable club par excellence.’
It’s about time that a sports team — which by nature has more role model power than almost anything on the planet — took the right approach toward putting an external brand on themselves.
Bravo, Barca!
Technorati Tags: Barcelona, barca, UNICEF, charity
