IGN has partnered with Coca-Cola to produce a weekly eSports news show called ‘eSports Weekly with Coca Cola,’ in the same week I urged eSports and poker organizations to be wary of what sponsors they jump into bed with.
I am pounding my head against a brick wall as I type.
In the same week that I urged eSports and poker organizations to think about the impact that their choice of sponsors will have on the health and wellbeing of both the people who occupy our planet, and the planet itself, a major player in the eSports industry has inked a new deal that will sear imagery of Coca-Cola into the minds of gamers all over the world.
Entertainment & eSports media company, IGN (formerly Imagine Games Network), is partnering with the monolithic soda brand Coca-Cola to create a weekly digital eSports news service called ‘eSports Weekly with Coca Cola.’
The 30-minute show will be anchored by the former professional StarCraft II commentator Kevin Knocke, and will cover the top news stories of that week: including a look at tournament highlights, league results, and analyzing the performances of top players.
In the first few weeks of the series the show will feature the likes of League of Legends star Stephen “Snoopeh” Ellis, eSports team manager Charlie Yang and our very own World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier.
Peer Schneider, who co-founded IGN back in 1996, said he ‘is excited to team up with Coca Cola to introduce an even bigger audience to the world of professional eSports.’
He will also be introducing an even bigger audience to the world of a sugary drink that according to an infograph found in a July edition of The Telegraph stated, ‘that a 330ml can of Coca-Cola contains so much sugar, your body should vomit-but phosphoric acid ‘cuts the flavor’, helping you keep the liquid down.’
But hey…they need the money right?
That same infograph said that ’10 teaspoons of sugar hits your system’ in the first 10-minutes of consumption; after 20-minutes you receive an insulin burst, to which your liver responds by turning all of the sugar into fat; after 45-mins dopamine is stimulated in the same way it is with heroin users; and after 60-minutes you are dying for a piss and are now suffering from the inevitable sugar crash. IGN currently has a reach of 66 million viewers.
Great.
It’s not the first time that Coca-Cola has partnered with an eSports company. In 2014, Coca-Cola joined forces with Riot Games to sponsor their premium League of Legends product. That deal was extended for 2015, and that allowed League of Legends games to be shown live across Cinemark Cinemas – who also have a relationship with the beverage giant. Coke also has a Coke eSports Twitter account with 334,000 followers.
Coca-Cola has been exploring new opportunities after it lost its contract to sponsor the National Basketball Association (NBA) after a 30-year partnership. Before you get too excited, the new sponsors are Pepsi.
In August, The New York Times kicked up a fuss when they raised awareness of the fact that Coca-Cola had donated $1.5 million to the Global Energy Balance Network: a non profit that promotes an agenda that Americans are more concerned about what they eat and drink instead of concentrating on more exercise. Many experts believe this was a move by Coca-Cola to shift the emphasis of the obesity epidemic away from diet and onto exercise.
Marion Nestle, author of Soda Politics, commenting in the article, said: “The Global Energy Balance Network is nothing but a front group for Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola’s agenda here is very clear: Get researchers to confuse the science and deflect attention from dietary intake.”
In 2008, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that approx. 1.5 billion adults were overweight and at least 400 million clinically obese; it was expected that these figures would rise to 2.3 billion and 700 million just about now. The diseases that fall out of this mess, a lot of which are linked with
The show will be aired on IGN.com, and across their connected TV and digital networks each Friday at 7pm EST. A great time to ensure that your teenage children are watching something else.
