The Ethical Limitations of Digital Marketing Engagement Strategies: Banterification and Professional Sports Teams’ Social Media Channels

This chapter embarks on a critical naming of what we call the ‘banterification’ of professional sport clubs’ social media channels. With an emphasis on critical and ethical aspects of communication strategies, the chapter deconstructs how banter is employed as a strategic tool for fan engagement. Drawing on examples from elite sport leagues, the chapter explores the precarious balance between humorous engagement and the risk of causing offence or diluting professional decorum and brand identity. The chapter will raise critical questions about the ethical implications of this form of communication and its possible implications for brand identity and public perceptions of professional sport teams. Finally, it seeks to consider this in the context of a much broader trend of cultural infantilisation, locating the actions of social media managers as both a cause and a symptom of a broader shift indicative of late modern societies.