Abstract
M. Comm.
Sponsorship has grown immensely the past decade and involves
billions of rand worldwide each year. Many big companies use this
form of marketing successfully to achieve certain objectives. In South
African athletics however, problems and pitfalls that may hinder the
success of a sponsorship are experienced at regular intervals. It is
believed that sponsors use the wrong objectives or make the wrong
choices; that problems occur too frequently; and that the problems
experienced are caused by the inability of athletics organisers to
address or prevent such problems.
The purposes of this study are to identify and describe problems that
are regularly found in sport sponsorships and especially athletics
sponsorship in South Africa. The underlying objectives are to
determine whether sponsors use the correct objectives, to identify
problems that occur regularly and to establish the organisers'
responsibility for these problems.