Nowadays, sports are increasingly used as a marketing medium by various companies either by sponsoring teams and competitions, or by displaying advertisements on TV between matches, or on large screens spread throughout the playing fields.
On the one hand, opponents of such phenomenon argue that it has turned sports events into commodities, stripping them of their original purpose of unifying people, spreading tolerance, and raising awareness about the importance of leading an active lifestyle. Moreover, they fear that it can enable some firms to promote certain narrative and propaganda through popular teams or players, harming the public in the first place, and defaming such celebrities should the people know the truth. A prominent example of this is how junk food companies such as Pepsi and Lays always use popular football players to promote their products, neglecting that such behavior defies the whole purpose of sports, which is leading a healthy lifestyle. This essay agrees with this point of view.
On the other hand, its advocates believe that it allowed sports events to be bigger, better, and more entertaining, because it has led to the influx of huge amounts of money into the industry. However, this argument is flawed because this is one of the reasons sports have lost their traditional message and turned into mere entertainment in which clubs with richer sponsors and more expensive players win.
In summary, while some people think that companies have helped sports prosper by pushing large amounts of money into them for marketing purposes, I believe such actions stripped sports from their inherent purpose as advocates of tolerance and health and turned them into a commodity and a wealth match instead.