Research Argument Assignment-Recruiting in College Sports

The topic for my research paper will be the college athletic recruiting process, and more specifically how the recruiting process diminishes the value of education. The recruiting process is corrupted, and the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) has just begun to step in and crack down on coaches that repeatedly break the rules for recruiting of college athletes. Coaches regularly offer "gifts" to potential athletes, a blatant transgression of NCAA recruiting policy. Another issue that should be addressed is that college coaches are beginning to make verbal offers to students who are still in middle school. In my paper I plan to address these issues by giving examples and I also plan on looking into the roles that the NCAA has played in stopping this sort of activity. I will likely add a paragraph or two about the recent investigations by the NCAA into schools like University of North Carolina, University of Miami, and most recently (and my personal favorite to watch get in trouble) University of South Carolina.

Article on Nike Advertising

Carol A. Stabile (2000): Nike, social responsibility, and the hidden abode of production, Critical Studies in Media Communication, 17:2, 186-204. 13 September 2011. <http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/15295030009388389>

The article I read by Carol A. Stabile strongly enhanced the background on how Nike uses its advertising in drawing in consumers, and also some of the racial undertones of the Nike advertisements. The article also did a great job of breaking down the different advertising campaigns that Nike has used throughout its history, including the PLAY (Participate in the Lives of America's Youth) campaign, "Just Do it" and "There is No Finish Line". The article claims that the main reason that Nike's advertisements are so successful are because they effectively reach their intended target, which is the middle-class. It also explains the variety of marketing schemes that Nike released in order to promote more specific items like womens' shoes and their new running shoes. The different analyses in this article will allow me to reach new depths in analyzing Nike’s typical marketing schemes and how things they have done in the past relate to advertisement I am using. I will also be able to break down what specific advertising campaign my ad falls under to allow me to further break it down.

Advertisement

The Nike SPARQ Training advertisement, with professional hockey player Daniel Alfredsson, is highly effective for its intended audience because of the use of both the company’s and athlete’s ethos, the use of language to convey a message, and the use of “post hoc, ergo propter hoc” to amplify the credibility of how the training will affect the consumer.