Handbook of Research

on the Impact of Culture

and Society on the
Entertainment Industry

R. Gulay Ozturk
İstanbul Commerce University, Turkey

A volume in the Advances in Media,

Entertainment, and the Arts (AMEA) Book Series
Table of Contents

Foreword ........................................................................................................................................... xxiv

Preface ................................................................................................................................................ xxv

Section 1
Entertainment, Culture, and Society

Chapter 1
Transformation of Entertainment Culture throughout Society and History ........................................... 1
Ebru Karadogan Ismayılov, İstanbul Commerce University, Turkey
Gozde Sunal, İstanbul Commerce University, Turkey

Chapter 2
Leisure and Entertainment as a Creative Space-Time Manifold in a Post-Modern World ................... 21
Nadezhda Nikolaevna Pokrovskaia, Saint Petersburg State University of Economics, Russia

Chapter 3
Entertainment and Food Tourism in the Backdrop of Late Modernity and a Relection on Turkey .... 39
Aysegul Kesimoglu, City University London, UK

Chapter 4
Negotiating Spirituality: Commodiication of Religious Content in the Entertainment Industry ........ 57
Ruly Darmawan, Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia

Chapter 5
Concurrence of Sports and Entertainment Industries: Super Bowl ...................................................... 72
Guven Buyukbaykal, İstanbul University, Turkey
Yildiray Kesgin, İstanbul University, Turkey

Chapter 6
Bollywoodizing Cricket! A Fascinating World of Global Sensibilities, Entertainment Revolution,
Cultural Representation, and Economic Stunts .................................................................................... 89
Sony Jalarajan Raj, St. Thomas University, USA
Rohini Sreekumar, Monash University, Malaysia
 Section 2
Entertainment and Media

Chapter 7
The Understanding of Entertainment in Press Enterprises in Turkey................................................. 105
Cuneyt Binatli, İstanbul Commerce University, Turkey
Gozde Sunal, İstanbul Commerce University, Turkey

Chapter 8
An Overview on Presentation of Entertainment in Newspapers’ Weekend Supplements .................. 122
Nihal Kocabay Sener, İstanbul Commerce University, Turkey

Chapter 9
Entertainment on French Television ................................................................................................... 145
Catherine Ghosn, Université Paul Sabatier, France

Chapter 10
Transformation in Daytime Television Programs in Turkey since 2000 ............................................ 161
Ece Karadogan Doruk, İstanbul University, Turkey

Chapter 11
The Past as a Spectacle: The Magniicent Century............................................................................. 182
Selin Tüzün, Marmara University, Turkey
Aygun Sen, Marmara University, Turkey

Chapter 12
Rewarding Work, Representing Work: The Serious Side of Entertainment in Globalised Award
Shows .................................................................................................................................................. 203
Lukasz Swiatek, The University of Sydney, Australia

Chapter 13
Globalization and the Dynamics of Work Markets ............................................................................. 225
Kristian Feigelson, Sorbonne University, France

Chapter 14
User-Generated Cinema: A New Way of Consumer Co-Creation? .................................................... 245
Theresa Stefens, Macromedia University for Media and Communication Naststraße 11,
Germany
Thomas Döbler, Macromedia University for Media and Communication Naststraße 11,
Germany

Chapter 15
Historical Epic as a Genre in Popular Turkish Cinema ...................................................................... 264
Ala Sivas Gulcur, Istanbul Commerce University, Turkey
Chapter 16
Violence and Pornographic Violence as a Mass Entertainment Medium: A Study on Spartacus
Series ................................................................................................................................................... 278
M. Nur Erdem, İstanbul Kavram Vocational College, Turkey

Section 3
Entertainment and Marketing

Chapter 17
Leisure Time Marketing in the Context of the Entertainment Industry.............................................. 296
Ozgur Cengel, İstanbul Commerce University, Turkey
Yaman Oztek, Galatasaray University, Turkey

Chapter 18
Experience Marketing at Retail Environments ................................................................................... 314
Gozde Oymen Kale, İstanbul Commerce University, Turkey
Ebru Ulusoy, University of Maine, USA

Chapter 19
Eatertainment: The New Era in Lateral Thinking – Issues and Competing Trends in Retailing........ 332
D. Zeynep Bayazıt Şahinoğlu, İstanbul Commerce University, Turkey
Figen Yıldırım, İstanbul Commerce University, Turkey

Chapter 20
Customer Responses to Arts Festivals: The Efects of Relationship Marketing on Cultural
Activities ............................................................................................................................................. 350
Angela Chang, University of Macau, China

Chapter 21
Contemporary Art Museums’ Marketing Strategies: The Case of the Istanbul Modern Art
Museum............................................................................................................................................... 371
Zeynep Guney Celebi, Galatasaray University, Turkey

Chapter 22
Diferences that Matter: A New Framework for Evaluating Marketing Communication
Efectiveness in Online Social Gambling ........................................................................................... 389
Wilson Ozuem, University of Hertfordshire, UK
Jason Prasad, University of Wales, UK

Section 4
Entertainment, Advertising, and Public Relations

Chapter 23
The Representation of Public Relations Profession and Public Relations Practitioners in the
Context of Entertainment Culture in Turkish TV Series .................................................................... 421
Hilal Ozdemir Cakir, İstanbul Commerce University, Turkey
Chapter 24
The Integration of Entertainment and Advertising: Advertainment ................................................... 440
R. Gulay Ozturk, İstanbul Commerce University, Turkey

Chapter 25
Entertainment Media: Times of Branded Content .............................................................................. 461
Paula Cordeiro, University of Lisbon, Portugal
António Mendes, University of Lisbon, Portugal & IADE – Creative University, Portugal
José Mascarenhas, University of Lisbon, Portugal
Soia Lameira, University of Lisbon, Portugal

Chapter 26
Acceptance of Branded Video Games (Advergames): A Cross-Cultural Study Spain-USA ............. 482
José Martí-Parreño, European University of Valencia, Spain
Carla Ruiz-Mafé, University of Valencia, Spain
Lisa L. Scribner, University of North Carolina – Wilmington, USA

Chapter 27
The Use of Humor in Award-Winning TV Commercials in Turkey................................................... 503
Erdem Tatli, İstanbul Commerce University, Turkey
Urun Anil Ozdemir, İstanbul Culture University, Turkey

Chapter 28
Advertisement as Part of Entertainment Culture and its Efects on City Culture............................... 521
Betul Onay Dogan, İstanbul University, Turkey

Section 5
Entertainment and Technology

Chapter 29
The Role of New Media in Contemporary Entertainment Culture ..................................................... 542
Ozgur Akgun, University of Maine, USA

Chapter 30
Shared Values in Social Media and Comics Scan Communities as New Belonging-Marks .............. 558
Alexandre Honório da Silva, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (PPGCOM/UFPE),
Brazil
Chapter 31
Digital Entertainment Culture and Generation Y: An Evaluation on Social Network Games in
Turkey ................................................................................................................................................. 578
Barıs Kara, Galatasaray University, Turkey
R. Gulay Ozturk, İstanbul Commerce University, Turkey

Compilation of References ............................................................................................................... 595

About the Contributors .................................................................................................................... 655

Index ................................................................................................................................................... 665

 89

Chapter 6
Bollywoodizing Cricket!
A Fascinating World of Global Sensibilities,
Entertainment Revolution, Cultural
Representation, and Economic Stunts

Sony Jalarajan Raj

St. Thomas University, USA

Rohini Sreekumar
Monash University, Malaysia

ABSTRACT
Bollywood is a cultural product that has molded their representational possibilities to depict the chang-
ing social and political scenario of India. Moreover, it is an industry that is commercially successful
and makes all eforts to take into account its middle class Indian sentiments and interest. One of its
recent ventures is the launch of the Indian Premier League with most of the franchised teams owned
by Bollywood stars or at least branded or heralded by ilm stars. This makes cricket matches extremely
glamorized events with the mix of a Bollywood ilm. This chapter look into this aspect of transforma-
tion of a popular game like cricket in India with due consideration to the cultural, entertainment, and
Bollywood-izing aspect of the game.

INTRODUCTION Bollywood reached a juncture when western or

Bollywood is undeniably one of the biggest cul-
tural industries in the world. It is celebrating its
centenary year with greater global acceptance and
recognition. Over its last 100 years it success-
fully surpassed the most acclaimed Hollywood
market in production, revenue and audience
strength. Bollywood is a film industry that has
displayed the changing socio-political situations
of India. From mythological films to melodrama,
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-6190-5.ch006
diasporic character became inevitable in these
films. Gradually, considering the large migrated
Indian population around the world, films began
to target these audiences transcending the lan-
guage and cultural barrier to reach out to global
audience. At present it is a globalized cultural
industry, a cinema of attractions and the most
fascinating global film industry packaged with
romance, melodrama, action, costumes, songs
and dance extravaganzas.

Copyright © 2014, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

When Bollywood established a devoted fan
base around the world, it entered into a lucrative
and previously unseen area of cross-media en-
tertainment by stepping into the world of sports.
Bollywood stretches its long business tentacles
with Indian version of twenty20 cricket, popularly
known as Indian Premier League (IPL), the money
making machine which is now as competitive
and profitable as English Premier League Foot-
ball. Nevertheless, IPL is now one of the much
celebrated events in the global sporting world
where the celebrity film stars and business tycoons
sponsor and organize the team. This nexus of Bol-
lywood stars with the global business leaders and
international cricketers fetched an easy revenue
model of 200 billion dollars in the beginning year.
As IPL reached the sixth season of its triumph
and tribulations, it has become a prototype of a
new age business entity and the model of which
has been adopted in different parts of the world.
Bollywood actor’s entry into the cricket field
made the sport the most glamorous event in Indian
entertainment scenario.In the present era, people
are searching for countess ways to get entertained.
Entertaining the public is the core of most of the
new researched television programs. Previously,
the presence of any celebrity in the pavilion excited
both the live and television audience enjoying the
game. Conversely, now cricket turned out to be
star-studded event bedecked with cheer-girls that
made the televised world to compete for the tele-
cast rights. This revolutionized the entertainment
culture of public where they are now witnessing
the merging of the most popular entertainment
outlet – film and sports. This not only merged two
big industries, but brought together the audience of
cricket as well as the film. Now audience witness
their favourite stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Preety
Zinta and Shilpa Shetty cheering for his/her team,
and the celebrity or star image that the players are
getting due their presence and involvement in styl-
ing the players according to their image. Here the
game of cricket is getting the image of a 2-3 hour
Bollywood film of anticipation, sentiments, joy,
90
Bollywoodizing Cricket!
sorrow, and where, the dance and song sequence
is replaced by the cheer girls, live-drum beats and
theme songs, and the highly emotional reaction by
the stars on the pavilion provides the best scene of
the day (as Shahrukh’s quarrel with the security
staff of a stadium in Mumbai after the victory of
his team Kolkota Knight Riders that banned him
from entering the stadium for five years).
The proposed chapter will be an earnest attempt
to evaluate the entertainment value of IPL that
makes it not only a profitable revenue model, but
a change agent of public attitude towards leisure
and entertainment. This article also traces the
growth and development of Bollywood as soft
power market leading towards a global entertain-
ment by moving out of the comfort zone of film
industry to an ambitious platform of corporate
business venture. Textual/news analysis will be
used as primary source of data.
Starting with a general introduction on Bol-
lywood and its global entertainment and cultural
prospect, the chapter moves on to the definition
of entertainment in this ICT era, and the trans-
formation of the most popular sport, cricket into
a new format of 20 overs reducing its timespan.
This is followed by the Indian adaptation of T20
and the arrival of betting of players and a new
revenue model, taking the game to a next level
of entertainment.
BACKGROUND
India, aiming to become one of the super powers
of the world, has only a faded image in the sports
arena. Despite the population of one billion and
a growing economy, India’s poor performances
in world sports have been a major discussion
whenever a sports event occurs. According to
Chess Grand Master Pravin Thipsay, India’s
meagre performance is only because of the lack
of facilities for sports and practice (“Relative poor
performances”, 2012). According to Kulkarani,
a sports psychologist, this is also due to the lack
Bollywoodizing Cricket!
of importance that the post-independent Indian
society gave to extra-curricular activities. Accord-
ing to her, parents, who has a profound influence
in decision making, give priority to academics,
as the saying goes “Kheloge kudoge to honge
kharab, padhoge likhoge to banoge nawab” (“your
life will be a waste if you play but if you study or
do well in academics you will be a king”) (“Why
does Indian”, 2012).
Even when the failure in making a mark in
global athletic events has been highlighted, India
is known for the ever crazy audience for cricket.
Though not the national game of India cricket
could still be considered as a kind of religion
that unites Indian population (BBC World, n.d).
No matter the geographical boundaries, cricket
is enthusiastically appreciated by the Indian
population irrespective of age gender or religious
differences. Brought by the British colonists in
India, cricket remains as one of the trace marks
of the colonial rule, but with an appreciation.
This gradually evolved into a mania in India,
where the dream of an average kid is to become a
cricketer. Lezard (2003),while reviewing the book
A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History
of a British commented that cricket would be the
major factor that undermined the caste system in
India. Moreover cricketers shared the space of
celebrity status enjoyed by the film stars, per-
haps more in the social spectrum. Moreover, the
political patronage and media support for cricket
is bought under severe criticism at times (“Is
cricket killing?” 2004). Being a highly commer-
cialized sport, even when many other propitious
games are excluded from the media slots, cricket
matches never go unconsidered. Hence cricket
is considered as the main stumbling block for
the emergence of the country as an international
sports/athletic champion (Kumar, 2011). Unlike
many other sports nation-champions, like Russia,
China and the US, where, a spirit for achieving
a global power in sports through International
sports events like Olympics and World cup soc-
cer is evident, Indian quest for sports is limited to
cricket which is more or less regionalised. BCCI
(Board of Control for Cricket in India), a private
club consortium and the governing body of Indian
cricket, is considered as the richest sports body
India. Until recently, BCCI was exempted from
tax in the name of ‘charitable organization’ (Joshi,
2012). This made this procure immense revenue
due the course. Major part of its revenue comes
in the form of sponsorship and media right, with
organization vying to win the bid to get to BCCI.
This in fact made the cricket as well as the players
a glorified event and personalities respectively by
the very media and society.
It is a common image in every neighbourhood
of India that a group of kids playing their ver-
sion of cricket within their limited facilities and
infrastructure available. This flexibility of cricket
itself has made it a favourite outdoor activity of
people in India. Despite the irrelevance to sports
and athletic games in India, the interest for cricket
could be related to the commercialized and glori-
fied image of cricket as well as the players. This
is evident in the overwhelming response and cov-
erage that the World Cups often gather which is
unbeatable by any other national or international
events in the history of Indian television (“World
Cup final,” 2011).
Hence much has been written on the history
and identity of cricket in India among which the
two main works would be Guha’s A Corner of
a Foreign Field (2002), and Astill’s The Great
Tamasha (2013); Cricket, Corruption and the
Turbulent Rise of Modern India.
The Great Tamasha is a journey of the author
into a corrupted world of cricket with a sociologi-
cal outlook, narrating the historical development
of cricket in the colonial period to its image in the
modern world, where it caused a mania. Through
a series of interviews and ethnographic trips, he
looks into the governing bodies mainly Board of
Control for Cricket (BCCI) and the contemporary
IPL fever and its reflection of modern India.
91

While Astill’s work remained not well-re-
searched, Guha’s A corner of a foreign field has
the merit of an experienced, authoritative and
indigenous look into the meaning of cricket in
Indian society. Teaming cricket with a sociological
history of India, he connects the game with the
race, religion and caste differentiation in India.
Apart from cricket, one of the other popular
entertainment means in India is Bollywood, which
is now a global entity. Bollywood has always re-
ceptive to changing social and political scenarios
in their theme adaptations (Dudrah, 2006). In
Bollywood, sports films though seized the frame
quite recently, is rapidly becoming the favourite
genre of filmmakers as they try to plot the films
over popular games and sport games in India.
By the beginning of 1980s onwards, Bollywood
films began to give prior consideration to sport
movies, which gradually evolved into a particular
genre in the film industry in India. While sports
like boxing, hockey, football etc have find place
in this, majority of sports films concentrated on
the theme of cricket; Lagaan, Dil Bole Hadippa
(2009), Ferrari Ki Sawaari (2012), Iqbal (2005)
and Kai Po Che (2013), Patiala House (2011),
Victory (2009), Jannat (2008),and the list goes
on. With that said, it should be noted that the first
cricket film in Bollywood dates back to 1959,
when Dev Anand, the legendary actor of Bolly-
wood, dons the character of professional cricketer
in the film, Love Marriage. It could be said that
it was after the World Cup victory for India in
1983, that Bollywood realised the potential of the
sports theme, and precisely cricket-themed films,
and there begins the journey of a successful genre
in Bollywood with 1984 sports films – Hip Hip
Hurray (1984; based on football) and All Rounder
(1984; based on cricket). However this hasn’t been
identified as a genre in Bollywood discussions.
Even though a text in a particular genre, will
never seems to have similar generic characteristics
(Fowler 1989), such generic analysis in contem-
porary film studies is inevitable due to a niched
92
Bollywoodizing Cricket!
and categorised films aiming at specific group
of people. If genre depends upon the purpose of
such a categorization, sports films genre could
be a generous attempt to mark and theorise the
films carrying sports theme not only to generate
the specific characteristic, but the sociological and
cultural significance of these films according to
the context of their origin. Even though a generic
categorization of sports films has been possible
in Bollywood, this has been less explored by the
academic world. When most of these discussions
on sports genre have been concentrating on either
American or British films, giving prior concern
to the sociology of sports films, Indian films have
been almost neglected in this scholarly discussion.
Misra (2007) commented that Bollywood and
cricket are the new found religion of India whose
respective deities have been made use by advertis-
ers to play with the consumers. Bollywood’s ap-
preciation for cricket hence is a strategic economic
plan to boost the films across the audience, where
both the Bollywood as well the cricket fans chose
to watch the films with dual interest. Apparently,
Bollywood and Cricket turn out to be the two
main pop culture of contemporary India. More-
over, though trivial, Bollywood and cricket has
always been in news for the rumoured connections
between Bollywood actresses and cricket players.
Most of the above mentioned Bollywood films
also follow the similar narrative pattern of an
individual’s journey towards victory after severe
trial and tribulations. While these redundant plots
often fail to capture box-office hits, there are
some deferentially scripted film that keeps the
sports to an unseen context, making these films
the masterpieces of the industry. Lagaan, perhaps
will be the most celebrated sports movies in India,
which even went to the nominations for Oscars.
Set in a colonial period of Victorian age, Lagaan
basically narrates the story of power relations
and identity crisis through an active inclusion of
cricket as a major point of conflict. According to
Majumdar, (2001) the success of Lagaan largely
Bollywoodizing Cricket!
looms around the mode of resistance, cricket, that
the film chose to depict the between the colonizer
and the colonized.
Dil Bole Hadippa on the other hand takes an
entirely novel approach of giving prominence to a
female character, which is so far unseen ina cricket
themed film, where the central female character
grabs the pivotal attention as a successful and
competitive player among male-co-players. Kai
Po Che, on the other hand, reflects the political
inference in the selection process and the spon-
sorship of cricket tournaments in India within a
context of Gujarat riots. While Iqbal, follows a
similar plot of the hero’s desire to win, this film
sets apart as the central character is a deaf and
mute full for aspirations to become a fast-bowler.
Hence, Bollywood, has always been running
behind profit, and has been flexible to adapt to
the changes the society demands and the industry
foresee. When Bollywood films were made on
cricket, cricketers were also given chances to
showcase their acting talent. While analysing these
films, it could be noted that most of these films
had poor box office performances, but made with
high expectations to tackle the sports audience. At
some instances, these cricketers were taken not for
their role in the society, but just as a replacement
of any other actor in the industry, thus aiming at
only a publicity stunt. For instance, Ajay Jadeja in
Khel, No Ordinary Game (2003), as unexpected
enacted a typical and cliché Bollywood teenage
guy entering a triangular love story, with no
similarity to his field competence. This was not a
rare instance. in a similar don, players like Sunil
Gavskar, Kapil Dev, and Vinod Kambli were also
taken into acting with no good future predicted for
them in this profession. Moreover, even interna-
tional/foreign cricket players were also included in
many of the sports films to give the plot a sturdy
and curious climax and command. As such films
like Victory (2009) and Patiala House (2011) has
chosen many veteran Australian, England and New
Zealand players like Andrew Sydmons, Stuart
Clark, David Gower, Graham Gooch, Michael
Hussey, Martin Croweet as themselves.
Apart from these, as far as the reception is
considered, cricket and Bollywood are the main
entertainment modes that generate immense emo-
tional response from the audience, thereby leaving
a space for active public discourses. Hence, Bol-
lywood decades before has tried to track the sport
audience through their films, which reached at this
globalized period of Bollywood whereby filming
International cricketers in a foreign location with
Indian film stars have become quite common. As
such, Bollywood’s identity with cricket move far
ahead from a narrative tactics to a revenue and
marketing model, which ultimately reached to the
point of Indian Premier League (IPL). As enter-
tainment is the sole of a visual media like film,
particularly Bollywood, it’s tying up with cricket
and the new world of franchising.
Sports or precisely cricket and Bollywood
are two separate entities that are unbeatably
popular in India. While much have been written
on both of these popular entertainment outlets, a
nexus between them either as a film genre or as
a entrepreneurship have been scarcely taken into
consideration in the academic parlance. However,
recently at least, Bollywood and cricket have be-
gan to find place in scholarly discussion with the
advent of cricket-themed films, particularly after
the release of the popular film, Lagaan (2002).
Lagaan have been analysed as portraying the
cultural imperialism depicted through the game
of cricket (Jones, 2013; Majumdar, 2001).
IPL takes the discussion of sports and film
to a new level where this nexus is extra-filmic.
This takes the whole lot elements of globaliza-
tion, business, entrepreneurship and politics into
the game of cricket. This is lowly taking grip in
academic discussion where these elements have
been correlated to identify new business model
of Indian economy. Gupta (2009) finds IPL as a
93

major step in realigning the power structure in the
international sports. He argues that now oriental/
Asian nations like India decide where, when and
how to play sports which was previously unimagi-
nable or unseen. Agur (2013) also takes IPL as a
case study in identifying the role played by IPL in
global cricket and how it has changed the global
business of sports. Rasul and Proffitt (2011) moves
a step forward in analysing the cultural politics
of IPL, whereby cricket is considered as a high
income generating machine by both corporates
and cultural players like film stars. Their study
is a right fire-up to the discourses on the cultural
aspect of commercialising a sports event, where
two popular media unite to generate profit or both.
It is at this juncture of rising number of films
in Bollywood sports genre, India’s increasing
popularity for cricket and the nexus between these
two entirely different entities that this article tries
to evaluate the bollywoodizing of sport event with
IPL as its case study. The article looks into the
cross-media activity of Bollywood in tracking the
revenue from both the businesses that seems to
provide a new model of revenue in India. Moreover
it is quite novel and fascinating to analyse the ways
in which Bollywood players have taken over the
sports stadium that changed the entire game play
to a Bollywood mix where there is song dance and
lots of drama involved in it.
INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE
AND BOLLYWOOD
As previously discussed, though sports have been
not a strong point in the political power agenda
of India, India has already conquered the world
with its ‘soft power’ (Tharoor, 2012; as quoted in
“Shashi Tharoor: Soft Power”). The recent fran-
chised cricket tournament is yet another kind of a
cultural conquest. Indian Premier League (IPL),
which Forbes Magazine labelled as the ‘World’s
hottest Sports League’, is the brain child of the
BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India),
94
Bollywoodizing Cricket!
who modelled this upon other professional sports
confederacies like English Premier League and
Major League Baseball. The first season of IPL
commenced on April 2008. Being the highest
revenue generator, BCCI’s brain child IPL is an
attempt to the track the 99 million television audi-
ence in India. Targeted towards the billionaires,
corporate celebrities and film stars, IPL is aimed
at tracking previously unseen revenue assimila-
tion. As Sinha (2011) opined, branding of IPL
was achieved through segmentation, according
to which the teams are segmented so that it will
appeal to local as well as global audience and
which could add glamour as well be able to pump
huge revenue in the game.
It is cricket’s version of tabloid journalism. It is
muchmore now about glamour and entertainment
than about what happens between the players,”
said Rajdeep Sardesai, the son of aprofessional
Indian cricketer and editor in chief of CNN-IBN,
a news channel. (Sengupta, 2008)
Let’s take a glance at the popular English
Premier league which could be considered as the
inspirational model for Indian Premier League.
Barclays Premier League is said to be the most
watched premier leagues in the world marking
its television turn over alone to be £1.2 billion.
While the teams of Premier League are 20 foot-
ball clubs from various parts of Europe, IPL is
a consortium of 8 teams under the banner of the
most prominent personalities/celebrities from
different states of India rather than any cricket
clubs. This include Bollywood stars’ owned teams
like Shahrukh Khan/ Juhi Chawla leading West
Bengal (Kolkata Knight Riders), Shilpa Shetty for
Rajasthan (Rajastan Royals) and Priti Zinta for
Punjab (Kings XI Punjab), and Corporates’ owned
teams like Mumbai Indians (owned by Mukhesh
Ambani), Sunrisers Hyderabad owned by Sun
Group (a media conglomerate), Chennai Super
Kings by India Cements, Delhi Daredevils by GMR
Group and Royal Challengers Bangalore owned
by UB group. Premier League football games are
for hard core football fans who sometimes follow
Bollywoodizing Cricket!
their favourite team in different stadium around
the world. The 90 minutes match is played with
all eyes on the players, with no distractions of
celebrity. Here players are the heroes and there
chants/terrace chats form the extravaganza of the
match. The suspense is created in these matches
with the hooligan activities which is a direct
reflection of the response of the highly devoted
sports followers (Ingle, 2013).
One of the main reasons for a global popularity
of IPL was the presence of celebrities like film
stars and corporate icons as the franchisors of
the teams. The subject gets such a prominence
as it is a nexus between two global entertainment
outlets, sports and Bollywood. There is a huge
marketing strategy behind formulating IPL, brand
elements and marketing elements. Majority of
its marketing and branding is through television,
thereby creating a mediated fandom and sports
consumption. The global broadcasting rights for
IPL was procured by partnership between Sony
Entertainment Television Network and World
Sport Group (Based in Singapore) for US 1.026
billion, who in turn resold the rights to other
foreign broadcasters for their local telecasting in
respective countries (Sinha, 2011). Since mostly
depending on the broadcasting rights, Bollywood
celebrities find this an added advantage to further
their screen presence across the world. For them,
it is dual victory as while propagating the team
through television, they are also targeting their film
audience. 64% of the total amount earned through
television right return to the hands of franchisers.
The central argument thus is how the presence
of film fraternities in the sports tournament and
in its ownership gave a significant boost to the
marketing of the sports in a global arena. For the
audience, who have seen their stars as sportsman
only in big screen, this was a chance to experience
their real-life dedication to sports. The main star
presence in the games is none other than the King
of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan, the owner of the
team/franchise, ‘Kolkata Knight Riders’. Other
prominent film stars are Prita Zinta, owner of
the team Kings XI Punjab, Shilpa Shetty, owner
of Rajasthan Royals, along with the presence of
an array for ambassadors like Katrina Kaif and
Deepika Padukone from respective states to en-
courage the players and the team.
In the contemporary world, where sports events
are increasingly going global and expanding its
wings, one of the effective way to brand it would
be through celebrities who has already gained
name in a the global cultural scenario. In many
ways, IPL is an adaptation of English Premier
League, where by the teams are regionalized and
franchised which run on a profit mission apart
from sports enthusiasm. As Rowe and Gilmour
opined on the hybridised global/local culture of
sports consumption in Asian countries,
These shifts are manifest in the growing popu-
larity of sports entertainment cultures that reflect
the rise of emergent media and leisure economies,
combining global aspirational cosmopolitanism
with an assertion of local cultural identities and
histories.
Hence propagating IPL could not be more
effective than giving it into the hands of film
personalities (few at least) who can lift the im-
age of the league to a global sports entertainment
scenario. The major success of the show hence
lies in the way it has met with audience need for
entrainment and their expectations from a film-
glamour, heroes, villains, sentiments, emotions,
conflicts, and victory.
As when the consumption and conception of
sports become culturally adapted and identified,
for India, Bollywood being the major commodity
showing India in a global map, there is no other
better strategy that connect the game with the
film industry, but Bollywood. Such a nexus is a
double edged coin, where by on one side the profit
generation is an advantage for both the parties,
the glamorous new role and branding of himself/
herself or their films is an added advantage for film
fraternities. Moreover, the new culturally adapted
sports event is also a novel way to address the
limitations of both the medium; traditional cricket
95

lacked a glamour, and Bollywood, though has
filmed cricket, lacked a direct showcase of their
sports spirit.Here the pivotal game of cricket has
been diluted to only part of a giant extravaganza,
where laser shows, cheer leaders, responsive film
stars in the pavilion has captured most of the space.
WHEN BOLLYWOOD
REACHED THE STADIUM: A
GLAMOURIZED CRICKET
Rather than looking at the revenue generated, this
article looks at the way this IPL was projected as
a visual extravagance, there by reformatting the
stage, scenario and the reception of cricket. This
remains as a perfect example of how the traditional
definition of cricket or a Premier League has been
redefined by the modern celebrity society.
While getting to the game in itself, the event is
organized in such a manner that every second of
the game hold complete glamorous extravagance as
it is also telecasted live through television around
the globe apart from the live audience in the sta-
dium. Here the attempt is to showcase cricket as
a glamorous Bollywood event. Every match is a
3 hour show packed with the filmic elements of
anticipation, sentiments, joy, sorrow, and where,
the dance and song sequence is replaced by the
cheer girls, live-drum beats and theme songs. More
than the players, it is the stars in the pavilion that
the camera always focuses to capture the highly
emotional reaction by them making it sometimes
the best scene of the day. In fact IPL could be
considered as a televised sports spectacle as a
Bollywood masala film.
Bollywood is globally popular for its song and
dance sequences. IPL, the televised spectacle was
not devoid of this. One of the main elements that
has been both criticized and encouraged during
the game was the presence of cheer girls, a group
of seductively dressed girls who cheered, swayed
and applaud on the ground. ‘Dancing beauties’ as
96
Bollywoodizing Cricket!
they are often referred to could be compared to
the recent trend of ‘item dancers’ in Bollywood
films, where by a sexy dancer number often by
some popular actress in Bollywood (who just
have a cameo appearance through this song) is
included in the film, which has no relation to the
plot, but just to market the film and the songs. As
with the item girls and item numbers in the film,
cheerleaders were not devoid of any criticism.
Moreover, most of these cheer girl groups are
taken from Europe, Australia and US. This also
is a globalizing trend of Bollywood, where by
films increasingly cast foreign characters, both as
a significant element of its storyline, and also to
support the dance and song sequences. The role of
these cheer girls are questioned from politicians to
religious leaders. Bharatiya Janata Party, President
(Maharashtra) commented that while the dance
bars are banned in Maharashtra, why these cheer
girls are not bought under the same legislature
being similar or sometimes worse than bar girls
(Raghunath, 2008). However being a Bollywood
star-studded event, the role of cheerleaders is easily
understood as a point to maximize the glamour.
Even before the season commence, news about its
music performances used to take the sports and
entertainment section of all media. There was a
huge publicity in 2011 for IPL’s fourth season that
Shahrukh khan is planning to share screen with
Pop singer Shakira for his teams’ theme music.
However, though the news have been never con-
firmed nor did the song ever happened, audience
was patiently following up with the star activities
in the IPL in a similar way as they do prior to the
release of his film. Again in 2013, Shahrukh Khan
was dragged into the news when Jennifer Lopez
turned down the offer put forward by his team
Kolkata Knight Riders to perform in inaugural
ceremony of the sixth season of IPL.
When coming to the music, IPL team Themes
songs have been much discussed and debated in
the media and particularly on YouTube. Shilpa’s
Rajastan Royals chose Sunidhi Chauhan whereas
Bollywoodizing Cricket!
Kings XI Punjab owned by Priti Zinta made the
Punjabi pop singer Daler Mehandi, brand ambas-
sador to give a musical touch to their team.
Shah Rukh Khan and his team Kolkata Knight
Riders would be the best case study of analysis in
this glamorised sports event. SRK’s team is consid-
ered commercially the most successful because it
has a high number of sponsors. SRK’s star power
acts as a money puller for the team. Being unbeat-
able in the film industry and a global icon, Shah
Rukh himself is the brand ambassador of his team,
and is one of the highest revenue making team in
the event. An year before the commencement of
the first season of IPL, Shah Rukh captured the
box office with an unique character as a Hockey
coach in the film, Chak de India (2007). This in
fact gave a boost to the star value of the actor when
he took the leadership of a cricket team. Much
of the drama in the IPL seasons are provided by
him through his emotional response in pavilion.
To give a glamorous touch to his team, the jersey
for his players were designed by the renowned
Bollywood fashion designer, Manish Malhotra
(“Kolkata Knight”, 2008) and under the director-
ship of the prominent choreographer and director
Farah Khan, a music video album was made with
an African background (“No new”, 2010).
In the seasons starting from 2008 to 2012,
Bollywood directors deferred the release of the
films during the initial season of the IPL earing
that the filmsget unnoticed because of the gain-
ing popularity of the cricket extravaganza (Das,
2012). Sinha (2012) commented that during the
first three seasons of IPL, multiplexes remained
almost unutilized, with some of them showing IPL
promos, rather than film. However, by 2012, as
the popularity of IPL began to wane, Bollywood
filmmakers made the IPL vent itself as a stage
for promoting the films and actors. According to
Rowe (2004) the positive image of a global sports
event is exploited for promoting films among
the sports fans, so that more audience will be
attracted both to the sports ground as well to the
film theatres. Recent trend of film team owners
to encourage the promotional activities is also a
similar stunt to track the audience, as the TRP
ratings of IPL is gradually waning as the years
pass (“IPL’s television rating”, 2013). As such
film personalities increasingly began to use the
event as a platform to promote the films and other
causes, as the IPL itself is a complete package of
visual treat. The latest in the list is Shah Rukh’s
film Chennai Express (2013), whose promo
is released in the final match of IPL Season 6.
Moreover, social causes also find this platform
more helpful. As such Farhan Akhtar promoted his
MARD (Men Against Rape and Discrimination)
campaign, raising voice against gender inequality
and atrocities against women. The match chosen
for the promotion is also notable; biggest matches
between Shah Rukh Khan’s team Kolkatta Knight
Riders and Priety Zinta’s Kings 11 Punjab with
a whole pavilion wearing black big moustache.
Broadcasters have exploited this potential of
attaching spectacle to sports. Channel Colors
owned by Viacom and Network 18 unleashed four
shows taking into its ambit the audience of Bol-
lywood and cricket. IPL Rockstar, a music talent
reality show is one among the ambitious project in
which the Bollywood team owners like Shahrukh,
Shilpa Shetty and Preity Zinta taking turns to be
in the judgment seat making the experience of the
cricket even to more heights. While the IPL Award
Night was organized to honour the performers on
field IPL Khatron Ke Khiladi, reality show like
Fear Factor was organized whereby cricketers
perform stunts. The list has been filled by a series
of Fashion shows and music events organized by
different franchises of IPL (Chandran, 2010).
Rajesh, the chief executive of Colors commented,
Cricket is a national passion. Bollywood is a
religion. If you can bring both of them together,
it can’t get any bigger than that… (Leahy, 2010)
Meanwhile, Star Plus has conducted the Bol-
lywood award night CINTAA award in conjunc-
tion with the third season of IPL. As television
97

channel vie to attach shows to the popularity of
IPL and Bollywood, this in-turn has helped the
films fraternities to use these platform to market
their films.
As Bollywood also is known for its highly
emotional and sensational melodrama and con-
flict, the game is also not devoid of conflicts and
media bash. Two of the cheer girls from Kings
XI Punjab wasasked to leave the stadium at Mo-
hali by the team’s event management company
Wizcraft International Entertainment pointing
on their dark skin (Banerjee, 2008). This shook
the society with global media bashing against
the racist approach of the company.The King of
the show, Shah Rukh left no chances to make
this event no less than a Bollywood films with
his highly poignant response to issues. IN the
first season of IPL, Shahrukh made a huge cry
when ICC Anti-corruption Unit prohibited him
from entering the dressing room and the dugout
area (“SRK say he”, 2008). Expressing disap-
pointment and frustration the actor announced
that he will boycott the matches. To add with it,
in 2012, for misbehaving and manhandling the
security personals, he was banned for five years
from entering the MCA (Mumbai Cricket Asso-
ciation) premises including Wankhede Stadium
(“Shah Rukh Khan banned”, 2012). Though the
response came after the victory of his team in
the match, for the public, this anti-climax was
no less than watching a thriller. Filmic moments
were incessant in the IPL seasons that filled the
air space of both new and entertainment media.
During the IPL season 5 in 2012, five players were
suspended from BCCI for spot-fixing which was
actually caught in a sting operation by a private
news channel (Ramanujam, 2012).
It could be said that the democratisation of
cricket happened with IPL as family audience
began to frequent stadium. This is in stiff response
to the positives of IPL like less duration, presence
of their favourite celebrities, music, dance and
drama within an affordable ticket price to enter
the stadium (Bastian, 2012). To make the show
98
Bollywoodizing Cricket!
enjoyable for the non-English speaking group,
Sony Six commenced the Hindi commentary for
the matched telecasting in their channel. This has
also reflected in the television viewership of IPL
which rose to a record of 140 million in its sixth
season (Srivastava, 2013).
The trend of using sports celebrities for product
endorsement has been looked at as a marketing tac-
tics to increase the emotional tie between consumer
and the celebrity (Stone, Joseph, Jones, 2003).
Particularly in India high performing sports per-
sonalities are the highest endorsers. For instance,
Forbes Magazine ranked Mahendra Singh Dhoni,
the Indian cricket team captain the 31st in the list
of richest sportsperson far ahead of Wayne Rooney
and Usain Bolt. Out of his income, 90 percent
came from his endorsements that make him one of
the wealthiest sportsperson in the world. It’s quite
amusing to note that half of the products that he
endorse has no particular relation with the filed
he is belonging to like Mysore Sandal soap, Dabur
Honey and Videocon . As Carlson and Donavan
(2008) opined, the fan’s identification with the
celebrity has a positive impact on the marketing
of that product due to the emotional attachment
called para-social relationship. In this particular
case, the product or event is marketed by film
stars where by the para-socioal relationship has
doubled with the presence of Bollywood stars who
has also made use of the fandom of sports stars
to increase the brand of their franchise. However,
even though cricket became a household name
in India with IPL, these games are known for its
celebrity/film star presence rather than the glory
of the game in the same way a film is popular for
its star presence.
SOLUTIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
As contrary to the belief that the IPL can nega-
tively affect the Bollywood film release, it has
proved that cricket and Bollywood can go hand
Bollywoodizing Cricket!
in hand when it reached its sixth season. Films
have proved that if the story is good the success
is certain. Though IPL brought forward the com-
mercialisation of cricket previously unseen in
India or elsewhere, this also have democratised
the sports with the participation of all sectors of
society. However the spirit of the game have far
been removed from the stadium due to its capsule
effect and the distractions in the stadium like star
presence. One of the constructive service that these
franchises could do to the society is to dedicate a
part of their profit for entertaining cricket clubs
in their respective states that could encourage
young cricketers to come forward. Each franchis-
ers should make sure that their teams have a few
new faces from these clubs. This will make the
league in all ways democratic.
FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS
IPL has opened many possibilities of identifying
the different economics of sports in this globalized
world. Apart from the Bollywoodization of a sport
it is an excellent case study in analysing how a
globalized cultural medium like Bollywood can
take on the sports market which is also a global
entity. This also takes the discussion to another
level where marketing of sports using similar
popular cultural medium get prior concern. Hence
rather than looking at the sports and its manage-
ment, the cultural phenomenon of these games
become the major element of analysis.
CONCLUSION
The latest result of a global mediated cultural
extravaganza is the Bollywoodized cricket tour-
nament named Indian Premier League. As
Rowe and Gilmour (2009) quoted, the tagline
of contemporary global sports is ‘a mediated
live cultural form’. While being constituted by
a culture, in the present world, the consumption
of that event remains global, though being local.
IPL is a perfect example of how the overpower-
ing entrainment world has captured the scope of
sports in furthering their business interest and
vice versa. Cricket and Bollywood being the two
pop culture of India, the coming together of these
two huge revenue-makers, rewrite the formula of
revenue assimilation.
For cricket as well as the Bollywood industry,
it is a win-win situation, as both flourish on the
reputation of either. The nexus proved well as it
tracked a combination of audience, both local
and global, consisting of both the sports as well
as the film fans. The important element, the game
itself, has been pushed aside by the presence of
star entrepreneurs and film stars. Bollywood
entrepreneurs left no chance to make the event
an extravagance where the sports stadium could
be transformed to a film location, not devoid of
any elements that make a filmic stuff.The choice
of cricket to nexus with, is also a main point to
ponder upon as when Indian Badminton League (a
franchise league similar to IPL) was constituted,
none of the member from the film industry chose
to franchise it.
Though the article gave prior concern only
to the bollywoodizing trend of IPL, it also shed
light on the non-western flow of culture. Though
adapted from the western concept of premier
leagues, IPL has interpreted it such a way that
it gave a locally-rooted cultural touch, branding
it as an entertainment extravaganza with global
players, thus making it a global sport event. Such
a contextualized sports event is important as it
characterised by the non-western world, thus
realigning the power structure of the world. IPL
has opened many possibilities of identifying the
different economics of sports in this globalized
world. Apart from the Bollywoodization of a sport
it is an excellent case study in analysing how a
globalized cultural medium like Bollywood can
take on the sports market which is also a global
entity. This also takes the discussion to another
level where marketing of sports using similar
99

popular cultural medium get prior concern. Hence
rather than looking at the sports and its manage-
ment, the cultural phenomenon of these games
become the major element of analysis.
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Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media. Politics,
12(4-5), 694–707.
Mehta, N. (2009). Batting for the flag: cricket,
television and globalization in India.Sports in
Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media. Politics,
12(4-5), 579–599.
Mitra, S. (2012). The IPL post-2010: an uneasy
transition phase? South Asian History and Cul-
ture, 3(1), 116–125. doi:10.1080/19472498.201
2.639525
Papathanassopoulos, S. (2011). Media Perspec-
tives for the 21st Century. New York: Routlege.
Ramani, S. (2008). Cricket, Excesses and Market
Mania. Economic and Political Weekly, 23(10),
13–15.
Rasul, A., & Proffitt, J. M. (2011). Bollywood
and the Indian Premier League (IPL): the political
economy of Bollywood’s new blockbuster. Asian
Journal of Communication, 21(4), 373–388. doi:
10.1080/01292986.2011.580851
Russell, H. et  al. (2009). Sport Management.
Oxford, Burlington: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Shrum, L. j (2008). The Psychology of Entertain-
ment Media. New Jersey: Routledge.
Sinha, D. (2011). Consumer India: Inside the
Indian Mind and Wallet. Singapore: John Wiley
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Slack, T. (2004). The Commercialisation of Sport.
Oxon, New York: Routledge.
Varia, K. (2012). Bollywood: Gods, Glamour,
and Gossip. New York, Chichester, West Sussex:
Columbia University Press.
KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS
BCCI: Board of Control of Cricket in India.
It is the national governing body of cricket reg-
istered as a society in India formed on 1928. IPL
has been initiated by BCCI in 2008.
Bollywood: The Hindu film industry in India
is popularly known as Bollywood. It is one of the
cultural industries that have gone global and most
often represent the Indian film industry abroad.
Cheer Girls: A team or group of girls who
are perform certain dance numbers, cheering and
stunts to cheer up the team and celebrate the vic-
tory. In India this cheer groups became popular
with IPL.
IPL: Indian Premier League. It is a twenty
20 cricket league in India having eight main fran-
chises. The league is popular for the presence of
Bollywood celebrities.
Para-Social Relationship: An interpersonal
relationship where by only those at one side of the
relationship knows about the other. It is often used
to define the fan psychology or the relationship
that the fans have with their favourite star/celebrity
whereby even though the star may not be aware
about the presence of his individual followers.
Spot-Fixing: It is an illegal activity whereby
specific part of the game is previously fixed.
Twenty 20 Cricket (T20): It is a form of
cricket originally originated in England in which
the teams will play for 20 overs each. Lasting for
not more than 3 hours for each innings, it is try-
ing to match-up with other popular games like
Football and Hockey.
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 655

About the Contributors

R. Gulay Ozturk was born in 1981, in Istanbul. She received her bachelor’s degree from Marmara
University at the Department of Public Relations and Publicity in 2004 and her master’s degree and PhD
from the same university at the Department of Advertising and Publicity. After receiving her PhD, she
went to Georgetown University CCT Faculty in Washington DC as a short-term scholar with a Postdoc-
toral Research Scholarship of TUBITAK for her post-doc research. She is working as an Assistant Prof.
in Istanbul Commerce University, Faculty of Communication at the Department of Public Relations.
The research areas that she is interested in include advertising, digital advertising, emotions, product
placements, tourism advertising, brand and strategic planning.

***

Ozgur Akgun received his BA, MA, and PhD degrees from Istanbul University School of Com-
munication. After completion of his graduate studies at Istanbul University, Ozgur moved to the United
States. He continued his graduate studies at the University of Texas-Pan American. He received his MBA
degree where he explored the aspects of media management and marketing. Prior to his academic career,
he worked at different positions from production manager to assistant director in the advertising industry.
His short films and scholarly videos received national and international recognitions. Currently, Ozgur
is a graduate student at the University of Maine Intermedia MFA program, where he studies the effects
of new media technologies in conventional media environment.

Cuneyt Binatli is a Professor of Media and Communication Systems in Istanbul Commerce Univer-
sity, Turkey. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Public Finance in 1966 and completed an MA degree
in Public Finance in 1968 at Anadolu University. He received PhD degree in Public Finance from An-
adolu University in 1971. He was promoted to Professor in Press Enterprise in 1986. His main research
areas; Public Finance, Media and Culture, Media History and Economy, Publishing of Newspaper and
Magazine, Marketing, Advertising Strategies.

Guven Buyukbaykal completed his undergraduate studies in the Department of Public Relations and
Advertising, Istanbul University and earned his master’s degree in Public Relations and Advertising in
the Social Sciences Institute of Istanbul University. In the same way, he was granted his doctorate degree
in Journalism in the respective institute of Istanbul University. Currently, he has been working as an as-
sociate professor in the Department of Journalism, School of Communications, Istanbul University and
he has been teaching Sports Press, Economy Press and Press Management courses in this department.
 About the Contributors

Apart form his national and international articles, he has issued two books, namely “The Position and
Importance of Promotion Integration in Banking Sector” and “The Position and Importance of Football
in Print Media in Turkey from the Past to the Present.”

Hilal Ozdemir Cakir was born in 1973 in İstanbul. She received her bachelor’s degree from Mar-
mara University, in the Department of Journalism in 1998 and her master’s degree and PhD from the
same university in the Department of Public Relations. She is working as an Assistant Prof. in İstanbul
Commerce University, Faculty of Communications in the Department of Public Relations. The research
areas that she is interested in include corporate public relations, crisis communication, corporate social
responsibility, corporate image and corporate reputation.

Zeynep Guney Celebi graduated from Bilkent University International Relations Department in
2002 and afterward she worked as a copywriter in several advertising agency in Istanbul. She completed
her master and PhD at Marmara University Communication Faculty between the years 2004 and 2010.
She was working as a research assistant at the Galatasaray University Communication Faculty between
the years 2004 and 2014. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Advertising at
the Galatasaray University Communication Faculty. Her research interests in advertising and marketing
are in the field of interactive advertising and marketing, advertising copywriting, creative advertising.
Moreover, she is also researching on the relationship between art and advertising, and art marketing.

Ozgur Cengel is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Istanbul Commerce University- Istanbul,

Turkey. He received his BSBA and MBA degrees at the University of Central Florida. He received his
PhD in Production Management and Marketing at Marmara University- Turkey. He is currently the De-
partment Head of Business Administration at Istanbul Commerce University. He acts as the Audit Board
Member of Turkish Marketing Association. In addition, he is the Board Member of the Economist’s
Platform in Turkey. He mainly lectures in the fields of Marketing, Sales and Logistics. His main areas
of study are Marketing Management, Consumer Behavior, Brand Management, International Marketing,
Sales Management, and Logistics Management.

Angela Chang is assistant professor in the department of communication at University of Macau. She
holds a PhD in Communications and Advertising from the Union Institute & University, USA. Chang’s
research area focuses on advertising strategy, consumer behavior, audience study, health communica-
tion, and eye-tracking method. Her publication includes a book on advertising, several technical reports
for government and non-profit organizations, academic book chapters and referred journals’ articles.
Her recent publications have appeared in the Journal of Advertising, Budapest Management Review,
International Journal of Communication and Health, and included book chapters published by Ashgate,
Springer, IGI Global, and other publishers. Currently, Chang is collaborating with the researchers in
Switzerland to investigate the childhood obesity issues.

Paula Cordeiro holds a PhD in Communication, with a specialization in Audiovisual and Interac-
tive Media. She is the Research Coordinator at the Communication and Media research group of CAPP.
Teaches Undergraduate and Graduate programs such as Theories of Communication, Digital Media,

656
About the Contributors

Radio or Communication Themes at ISCSP, University of Lisbon. She has been researching the field
of Digital Media and Radio since 2000. Her research interests include technology convergence, social
networks and radio, programming formats, music and cultural diversity, socio-cultural behaviors, music
and radio branding and marketing strategies, and online radio as well as the re-conceptualization of radio
in digital platforms. She has participated in different research projects, and as speaker in national and
European congress, meetings and seminars. She has recently published a book about radio and cultural
industries and is working on her new book, about radio and the Internet.

Ruly Darmawan is a member of Research Group of Design Science and Visual Culture. He is also
being assigned as lecturer at Faculty of Art and Design, Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia,
for postgraduate and undergraduate level in design studies and interior design. He obtained a Doctoral
degree in art and design studies from Postgraduate School, Art and Design Study Program, Bandung
Institute of Technology. His research interests are technocultural studies, media and lifestyle studies,
visual culture, and spatial design studies. He also spends his spare-time in creating creative works and
writing several articles in the field of contemporary society.

Alexandre Honorio da Silva is a PhD Candidate from Communication Post-Graduate Program of

Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (PPGCOM/UFPE) and Master in Social Sciences by the Social Sci-
ences Post-Graduate Program of Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (PGCS/UFRN). Studying
the collaborative communities that emerged with the developing of the hypertechnological/hypermodern
environments, for his research as a PhC he is investigating to the communities and groups dedicated to
the illegal digitalization of comics in Brazil - and the apparent link that their practices and uses has with
others collaborative practices developed through networked environments. In 2013, through the CAPES
Sandwich PhD program, he conducted part of his research at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Spain).

Thomas Döbler is head of the department of media management at the campus Stuttgart, Macrome-
dia University for Media and Communication. He studied Sociology, Psychology and Economics at the
University of Munich and received his PhD in Business Administration at the University of Hohenheim.
Before joining the Macromedia University he was head of the department of IT and Media Research at
the Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg (MFG). His current research focuses on Use and
Acceptance of Social Media, Sociology of Communication and Media Management. Current book is
Wertschöpfung durch Medien im Wandel (ed. with Castulus Kolo and Lars Rademacher) 2012.

Betul Onay Dogan is an assistant Professor of Advertisement at Istanbul University. She received
her Master of Public Relations from the Communication Faculty of Selcuk University in 2008, and her
master thesis topic is “A theoretical and practical study about the perception of the practices of local
administrations in public foundations in terms of public relations.” Then, she received her PhD in Pub-
lic Relations and Publicity from the Communication Faculty of Istanbul University in 2012. Her PhD
subject is “Role and Effect of Public Relations applications in Constituting a Communication Strategy
of Urban.” Her research interests include space and communication, urban communication, semiotics
in advertising applications.

657
 About the Contributors

Ece Karadogan Doruk got her bachelor’s degree in Journalism at Communication Faculty of Istan-
bul University in 1995. She received her MA degree in Journalism from the same university in 1997.
She completed her PhD in Public Relations and Publicity Department in 2003. She became an associate
professor in “Applied Public Relations “in 2010. She currently works as an academician in Communi-
cation Faculty of Istanbul University. Her research topics include theories of persuasion and rhetoric,
communication sociology, communication science and organizational behaviour.

M. Nur Erdem was born in 1976 in Zonguldak, Turkey. She graduated from Kocaeli University,
Faculty of Communication where she also received her master degree in Public Relations in 2008. She
is a PhD candidate at the same university on Communication Sciences and also a lecturer at Istanbul
Kavram Vocational College, Marketing, and Advertising Department. She conducts research in the areas
of advertising, media literacy, and advertising literacy.

Kristian Feigelson is a sociologist and teaches cinema at the University of the Sorbonne Nouvelle.
Co-author of Bollywood: industry of images, (Théorème 16, Presse Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris, 2012) he
contributes to different journals and has published numerous works on film culture. His recent publica-
tions includes The film factory, ed Armand Colin, Paris, 2011.

Catherine Ghosn is an Associate Professor in Information and Communication Studies at Paul Sabatier
University, Toulouse (France). Her research develops two aspects. The first one focuses on television:
the rise of public service television and private channels in France (in an international perspective, with
a comparison between the French television and television in Europe or the United States). She is also
interested in the question of the representation of ethnic minorities on television. The second aspect of
her research focuses on the question of diversity and plurality of information on the internet. Many view-
ers and citizens turn away from TV because they feel inadequately represented or because they believe
that public television no longer fulfills its role.

Ebru Karadogan Ismayilov is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual Communication

Design at Istanbul Commerce University in Turkey. She has received her BA degree in the Department
of Radio TV and Cinema from Marmara University in 2001, and then her MA degree in Media and
Communication Systems from Istanbul Commerce University in 2003. She received her PhD degree
in Radio TV from Marmara University in 2011. Ms İsmayilov’s taught courses at the University are
Basic Photography and Film Readings. Her research interests cover topics like Alienation, Abjection
and Reification in Cinema, Uncanniness of Daily Life and its Notation in Literature, Film and Media,
Culture Industry, and Surveillance Studies. Ms. İsmayilov has authored several articles that appeared in
different Turkish journals in the previous years.

Gozde Oymen Kale is an Assistant Professor of Public Relations in Istanbul Commerce University,
Turkey. She received her Bachelors Degree in Economics in 2000 at Istanbul University and completed
a Masters Degree in Business Administration (specialized in Marketing) in 2002 at Yeditepe University.
She received her PhD degree in Public Relations from Istanbul University in 2006. She began to work
as a Research Assistant in the department of Advertising Management in 2004 in Yeditepe University.

658
About the Contributors

Then, she was appointed as a lecturer in Istanbul Commerce University, Communication Faculty, the
department of Public Relations and promoted to Asst.Prof. in the same department in 2008. Her main
research areas are Marketing, Integrated Marketing, Brand Management and Consumer Behavior.

Baris Kara was born in 1980, in Bursa. He received his bachelor’s degree from Galatasaray Univer-
sity in the Department of Public Relations and Publicity in 2004, and his masters degree from the same
university in the Department of Social Sciences in 2007. He graduated with a PhD in the Department
of Advertising and Publicity from Marmara University in 2012. Also, he has been working as a research
assistant in Galatasaray University, Faculty of Communication in the Department of Advertising since
2007. The research areas that he is interested in include advertising, cultural studies, and sociology of
communication.

Yildiray Kesgin was born in 1987, in Istanbul. He received his bachelors degree from Kadir Has
University in the Department of Advertising in 2010 and his masters degree from Yeditepe University
in the Department of Journalism. He is working as a research assistant in Istanbul University and he is a
PhD student in Istanbul University Institute of Social Siences Journalism Department. Also, he is work-
ing at the Communication Faculity News Agency as editor. The research areas that he is interested in
include Advertising, new media, social media, journalism, speach, women studies, hate speach, freedom,
racism, sports journalism, entertainment, and journalism ethic.

Aysegul Kesimoglu has a BSc (Vehbi Koc Scholar) in Economics from Koç University in Istanbul/
Turkey and an MSc degree (Cum Laude) in the economics and management of creative industries (Arts,
Culture, Media and Entertainment) from the Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi (Università Boc-
coni) in Milan / Italy. Currently, she is a PhD student within the department of Culture and Creative
Industries at City University London in London, United Kingdom. Her research interests are on cultural
stratification, gastronomy and the formation of a taste hierarchy. She is focusing on Turkey.

Sofia Lameira graduated in Communication Studies and does research at CAPP, participating in
research activities of Communication and Media research group, such as Generations Online in Europe,
a multidisciplinary international research project, as well as the social and cultural behavior, media,
consumption and marketing research project, to which her master thesis will be a strong contribution.
Her research interests include socio-cultural behaviors, marketing strategies, communication of luxury
goods, communication management, Social and New media Manager and cultural industries. This article
contained herein will be part of her master thesis.

José Martí-Parreño (PhD, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain) is an Associate Professor in the
Department of Business, Faculty of Social Sciences, Universidad Europea de Valencia. His main research
areas include marketing communications, interactive marketing, mobile marketing, social networking
sites, and new advertising formats such as branded entertainment and advergaming. His research has
been published in refereed journals such as Industrial Management & Data Systems, Online Informa-
tion Review, International Journal of Mobile Communications, and Journal of Brand Management. He
has authored and co-authored seven books on marketing including Engagement Marketing (Financial
Times/Prentice Hall, 2008). He serves as a reviewer in several international journals including Journal
of Product & Brand Management.

659
 About the Contributors

José Mascarenhas has a masters degree in social communication and is currently working on his
PhD dissertation. He worked has an editor and editor in chief for the biggest men’s magazines on the
planet and he’s the communication manager for a web marketing company. He is also a screenwriter
and a teacher.

Antonio Mendes is currently a PhD candidate at ISCSP – Universidade de Lisboa. Graduated in

Sociology at ISCTE, holds an MBA and an MA in Management from INDEG / ISCTE. He is a faculty
member at IADE – CREATIVE UNIVERSITY LISBON, teaching branding, emotional branding and
consumer behaviour. He is the author of the books Branding (2010) and Branding Revised (on print). As
a speaker, he has participated in several Portuguese and European conferences. He is also the program-
ming director of RFM, a leading private radio station at the R/Com group of media.

Anil Ozdemir graduated from Istanbul Culture University, Department of Architecture in 2004. She
proceeded to do her graduate degree at the same university in the Faculty of Art and Design on “Web
and Graphic” in 2007. She completed her PhD degree at Marmara University in 2013, Department of
Advertising and Publicity, as well as working as a teaching assistant at Istanbul Culture University since
2004. Her main research areas are Space, Consumption, Visual Perception, Advertising.

Yaman Oztek is a Full Professor of Marketing at Galatasaray University- Istanbul,Turkey. He re-

ceived his BSBA degree in Business Administration at Marmara University, MBA degree in Marketing
Management at Istanbul University. He received his PhD in Production Management and Marketing at
Marmara University- Turkey. He was awarded his Full- Professorship in 2003 at Galatasaray University.
He is currently the Department Head of Business Administration at Galatasaray University. He mainly
lectures in the fields of Marketing, Sales and Logistics. His main areas of study are Marketing Manage-
ment, Advertising Management, Warehousing Management, Brand Management, International Marketing,
Sales Management, Customer Relationship Management and Logistics Management. He is a member
of Turkish Marketing Association and Marketing/Public Researchers Association.

Wilson Ozuem is Associate Professor of Digital Marketing at Regents University, London (UK). His
research interests include the implications of information technology for decision making by marketers
and consumers. The results of his research have been published in scholarly journals and International
conference papers, including the European Journal of Marketing, Social Responsibility Journal, World
Business Congress. Dr Ozuem teaches in a number of UK universities including the University of
Gloucestershire and the University of Hertfordshire, GSM (London). He currently teaches MSc and
MBA courses in marketing communications, Internet marketing, research methodology, and market-
ing management. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM) and has worked as a
marketing consultant for several companies and organizations. He received his BA in Business from
the University of Portsmouth, MA in Marketing from University of West London, MBA from London
Metropolitan University, MEd (Educational Leadership and Management) from Open University (UK),
Doctorate from Anglia Ruskin University, and Postgraduate Degree in Educational Research from Uni-
versity of Cambridge.

660
About the Contributors

Nadezhda Nikolaevna Pokrovskaia was born 1972, in Leningrad, USSR. She is a Professor in the
Sociology department at Saint-Petersburg State University of Economics and also Secretary General of
Scientific Council at the National Humanitarian University of Russia (Saint-Petersburg) now. In 1991,
the country was broken up into Russia and other republics. The deep transition from the Soviet Union
socialist model to the liberal market economy caused the interest towards social-economic regulation.
In 2000, her first PhD thesis was defended in Consumer behaviour in the book publishing industry. In
2008, she completed her Doctoral thesis on Regulation of economic and organisation behaviour. She is
a Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Sciences of Higher School (Russia), a full
member of Academy of Humanism Sciences (Armenia), a member of Saint-Petersburg Researchers
Union, and editor-in-chief of the analytical review “LiC” (Personality & Culture) since 1998. She has
more than 180 published books and articles. In 2008, she was awarded with the Gagarin Medal of 30
years Space Federation of Russia.

Jason Prasad is a uniquely recognized Marketing and Affiliate Professional with over a decade of
experience in the online gambling industry. Jason’s primary knowledge focuses on developing strate-
gic marketing plans and establishing affiliate programs for large global Online Gaming Companies in
the North American and European markets. Jason holds an MBA degree with distinction honours in
Marketing and Digital Marketing from The University of Wales and a BCOM degree in Marketing and
Logistics from The Sauder School of Business.

Sony Jalarajan Raj is the Graduate Coordinator and Assistant Professor for Communication in the
Institute for Communication, Entertainment, and Media at St. Thomas University Florida, USA. Dr. Raj is
a professional journalist turned academic who has worked in different demanding positions as a reporter,
special correspondent, and producer in several news media channels like BBC, NDTV, Doordarshan,
AIR, and Asianet News. Over a decade, Dr Raj has been in academics as a faculty member in Journalism,
Mass Communication, and Media Studies at Monash University, Australia, Curtin University, Mahatma
Gandhi University, and University of Kerala. Dr Raj is on the editorial board of five major international
research journals and he edits the Journal of Media Watch. His research interests include communicative
rationality, information flow, digital divides, the news media influences on the public sphere and visual
media. Dr Raj is the recipient of the Reuters Fellowship and is a Thomson Foundation (UK) Fellow in
Television Studies with the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association Scholarship.

Carla Ruiz-Mafe (PhD, University of Valencia, Spain) is an Associate Professor in the Department
of Marketing at the University of Valencia. Her research interests include consumer behaviour, marketing
communications, brand management, and online marketing. She is particularly interested in the study
of online consumer behaviour. She has published 34 papers in international refereed journals such as
Internet Research, Online Information Review, Industrial Management & Data Systems, The Services
Industries Journal, Journal of Service Management, Journal of Air Transport Management, and 7 in-
ternational book chapters. She serves as a reviewer in several international journals.

D. Zeynep Bayazit Sahinoglu (born in 1976, Istanbul) is an Assistant Prof. at the Istanbul Commerce
University, Commercial Sciences Faculty, Turkey. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Economics at
George Washington University, DC in 1999 and her Masters degree in Information Systems Manage-

661
 About the Contributors

ment at American University, DC in 2001. She completed her PhD in Advertising and Publicity at the
Marmara University, Turkey in 2009. She began her teaching career in 2001, and she was promoted as
the head of two programs in Aviation at the Vocational School of Istanbul Commerce University. She
has authored several publications and taught several courses with a particular focus on Marketing and
Advertising. Her special interest fields are Marketing Communication, Consumer’s Decision Making
Process and Reactions, Social Media Marketing, Retailing, Brand Strategies.

Lisa Luebbehusen Scribner (PhD, University of South Carolina, USA) is an Associate Professor of
Marketing in the Cameron School of Business at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Professor
Scribner’s research has been published in the International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality
Research, Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, Journal of Global Business, Total Quality
Management Journal, Marketing Education Review, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, and oth-
ers. Professor Scribner’s primary research interests involve multiple aspects of consumer behavior, such
as cross-cultural family decision making, branded entertainment and advergaming, consumer product
knowledge, comparative advertising, and consideration set formation.

Aygun Sen is a research assistant at the University of Marmara in Istanbul, Faculty of Communica-
tions, Department of Radio-TV and Cinema. She is a graduate of the same department. She completed
her master thesis at the Communication Faculty of Marmara University in 2010 in İstanbul. She is a PhD
student at Marmara University, Faculty of Communications. She has publications on Japanese Anima-
tion, Turkish Cinema, and gender.

Nihal Kocabay Sener was born in 1985 in İstanbul, Turkey. She graduated from Istanbul University,
Faculty of Communication where she also received her master degree in journalism in 2010. She is a PhD
candidate at the same university and also a research assistant at Istanbul Commerce University, Faculty
of Communication. She conducts research in the areas of international communication, representation,
and communication sociology.

Ala Sivas graduated from Marmara University Communication Faculty in 2001. She completed
her MA and PhD in the department of Radio-TV at Marmara University. She studied her international
postdoctoral research “Dynamics of Contemporary Italian Cinema: Industrial Change and Narrative
Structure” under the supervision of professor Gian Piero Brunetta at the University of Padua in 2008-
2009, with scholarship of “The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey.” She is work-
ing at Istanbul Commerce University as an Associate Professor and giving lectures on Film History,
Criticism, Film Theories and Turkish Film History. Some of her recent studies are Italyan Sinemasina
Bakiş (author) (View to Italian Cinema, Kirmizi Kedi, 2010) and Yavuz Turgul Sinemasini Keşfetmek
(editor) (Discovering the Cinema of Yavuz Turgul, Kirmizi Kedi, 2011).

Rohini Sreekumar is pursuing her PhD from the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Monash
University. She received her Masters Degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from Mahatma
Gandhi University, India with a gold medal. Rohini is the recipient of the National Merit Scholarship
and Junior Research Fellowship from the University Grants Commission of India. Her research interest
include film transnational film reception, diasporic studies, and Journalism practice.

662