When does sponsorship go too far?

This post was originally intended for The PR Practitioner

I was recently watching the People’s Choice Awards. The television show “Glee” received an award for best new TV comedy. They took the stage and said thank you to the fans, but this thank you was different than most. One of the cast members said they wanted to thank all of their fans by buying the audience pizza.

All of a sudden at least 20 waiters and waitresses (really models) marched down the aisles holding DiGiorno pizzas and wearing DiGiorno aprons. The cameras followed the models as they handed out pizza.

This is sponsorship at the next level. We’re used to the corporate sponsors for sporting events and awards ceremonies, but this goes too far. Sponsors diluted the real meaning of this awards show.

Will there ever be a limit as to what people can sponsor?

The video from the awards show (start watching 1 minute into the video):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ3eSQBRp7E[/youtube]