In recent years, many small local shops have closed because customers travel to large shopping centres or malls to do their shopping. Do you think this is a positive or negative development?

265 words, band 8.0+


2. Many companies sponsor sports to advertise their products or service. What advantages and disadvantages does this bring for the teams and individuals that these companies sponsor?


Many sports events are now supported by big businesses financially in exchange for the promotion of their services or products. While it is true that there are some benefits resulting from these sponsorships deals for both individual athletes and teams, in my view, the disadvantages that come with these deals are far greater.







The benefits of companies sponsoring teams and players seem to be mainly financial. For teams, these lucrative deals provide an opportunity to increase their revenue significantly. This is because many international corporations are prepared to pay millions of dollars to teams on the condition that their logos are displayed on the team's uniform or stadium. Individual players also benefit financially. For example, they can earn huge amounts of money by just appearing in TV commercials. Therefore, teams and sportspeople who are seeking to build wealth may focus on these contracts.






Nevertheless, these contracts never come without serious troubles. Firstly, reputable sports teams can risk losing their fans if they happen to promote the wrong product or company. That is to say, many fans would lose respect for their favourite football team if they saw the advertisements of companies that abuse human rights in the stadium. Secondly, sports athletes often lose their freedom when they sign sponsorship contracts. That is to say, the terms and conditions of these deals limit what they can or cannot for the period of the deal. Thus, earning through advertising may not always be a great choice for both teams and players.







To sum up, despite some apparent advantages, such as increased income, I believe teams and players lose more than they gain by signing these sponsorship deals. Therefore, they should try and find other sources of income that give them more freedom and respect in the long term.