Abstract
This essay highlights the unique and intimately interrelated nature of the relationship
between communication and advertising by providing a selective overview of
communication about and through sport within the context of promotional culture.
While advertising and marketing of sport leagues, teams, celebrity athletes, and
commodities are important, this treatment focuses on how the advertising industry
has come to dominate contemporary social life, and why ‘‘sport’’ is such an
important channel of communication within promotional culture. The article (a)
outlines the emergence, nature, and social significance of advertising; (b) offers a
framework for analysis based on the circuit of commodification and communication
model that emphasizes the context and complex interrelationships between particular
moments in commodification processes; (c) discusses a current research
example examining sport, globalization, and corporate nationalism; and (d) considers
directions for future research.