Brand as a Media: Share This

This week in our class reading for the book, "Share This" we covered the topic of brands becoming their own media and how that can be an advantage for public relations professionals and journalists around the world. It is happening in many magazines, newspapers and publications and has created something called "brand journalism". Brand Journalism is simply promoting your type of journalism through your brand. An example of this can be used as sports journalism is brand journalism because it is predominantly fed through ESPN the magazine or Sports Illustrated. The brand almost owns the media because when people pick it up, they are not only reading what the magazine represents, but what the brand as a company or corporation represents as well. When people see the ESPN body issue, it can be a toss up. I am sure there are plenty of people out there that are opposed to seeing the 350 pound nude body of Texas Rangers baseball player, Prince Fielder. An argument to that would be that these players are having the courage and comfort to show their bodies to the whole world because their body and their sport is their craft, respectively. When I read an article online once about the ESPN body issue, I saw a different, more artistic side about how the athletes approach the offer and how the photographers really capture the elegance in these athletes' bodies. The brand that ESPN is giving off to some is an appropriate way to get athletes to show their sexy side and is too vulgar for some audiences. The brand that ESPN is giving off in my opinion (and I'm sure I'm not the only one), is a brand that isn't afraid to push the envelope in our day and age and takes something that could be seen as sinful and graphic, and turn it into something beautiful and strong. The journalism of sports is something that has more content to it than just pictures of naked athletes and washboard abs, but this little inkling of sports journalism belongs to ESPN the magazine now, because no other sports magazine will be able to take the body issue that ESPN has created and mimic it in a better way. The brand of ESPN transcended with the body issue and will only get better with all of the highly tuned athletes still come in the future.