According to a CNN article (Brooklyn subway stop named for British bank):
New York’s struggling Metropolitan Transportation Authority has sold the naming rights to the second-busiest subway stop in Brooklyn. The Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street Station will now have the name of a British bank, Barclays, added to it.
Renaming the Atlantic-Pacific Station is tied to the construction of Barclays Center, the new sports arena for the National Basketball Association’s New Jersey Nets.
Also, a story highlight states: Riders express disappointment at “branding” of subway stop. With more than 10 million people passing through The Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street Station each day, it doesn’t really surprise me that riders are upset with the branding of the station. With a British banking company no less. Though, I do question the branding strategy from the Barclays standpoint, as I have a hard time connecting the bank with the Nets, the new area and the MTA.
However, in a capitalist economy this is branding at its finest. I mean, what is the harm in naming it after a financially sound company. We must all remember Enron Field, now Minute Maid Park, so let’s all hope this doesn’t happen again (with the subway station or basketball arena). And while we are all walking around with brands on our cars, clothes, food and transportation, what is the real harm of having a branded subway station? Especially since everything else in the subway system is plastered with advertisements.
Similarly, there have been recent stories about WNBA teams selling the naming rights on the front of team jerseys. While this has been commonplace on jerseys around the world, specifically in European soccer leagues, this has caused a major debate in the United States. For more information, read “For love of the jersey, plain is preferred” by ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski.
That was not nearly as bad as when Major League Baseball almost allowed Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios to brand bases and on-deck circles with a Spider-Man II webbed-logo during a stretch of inter league play back in 2004. For more, read “The tangled web of sports and advertising.”
Editor’s note: This article was sent to me by my mom. I couldn’t be happier that she is so spot-on with my interests!
