ESPN reports that “As part of a marketing alliance between Major League Baseball Properties, Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios, webbed logos of the upcoming film Spider-Man 2 will appear on bases and on-deck circles in 15 stadiums of teams playing host to interleague games June 11-13.” Considering the steady infusion of advertising into all professional sports via stadium naming, virtual insertion of ads during broadcasts, and product placement galore, to name but a few things, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by this. However, it still annoys me that they’d start fooling with the actual bases on the diamond. I guess I should be glad that one of Columbia Pictures’ other ideas was nixed: “Columbia Pictures originally wanted to put Spider-Man 2 webbing on the netting behind home plate, but the request was turned down for fear it would distract players.” You think?
