Charity Pun Run

It’s nearing that time of year again when organised charity fund raising descends on the UK in the form of Sport Relief. Perhaps I’m the only one who finds this annual event irksome. This isn’t because I have some problem with the aims of the initiative nor is it because I wish to demean the endeavours of all those who participate in it and the good causes that subsequently benefit – far from it. No my problem is purely with the name. Sport Relief – what does that mean exactly?

For some decades now those major charitable drives that attract high media coverage have striven to have a suitably catchy name to create some identity. Invariably they have sought the reliable domain of the pun to provide such nomenclature. I don’t know exactly when this started but 1984 saw the first example, that I was aware of, that really worked effectively. Someone back then came up with the slightly odd pairing of the world of pop music with a fund raising effort to relieve famine in Africa. There is no obvious logical connection between these two. When trying to solve a massive humanitarian crisis, caused by a combination of unfavourable climatic and political conditions, it takes quite an imaginative leap to turn for help to the one area of Western society that is associated, like no other, with the ephemeral, the self-indulgent, the profligate and the trite. To get the public behind this they needed to have name that could bridge this gulf in our logical sensibilities. The name had to be right. Some bright spark came up with Band Aid and at that point they must have known that they were onto a winner (and all involved were probably equally delighted to be able shelve the earlier working title of Pop Tarts, which would have necessitated the pop stars prostituting themselves in the name of charity). The reason Band Aid works (and the ludicrously named Live Aid doesn’t) is that it is a good pun. It carries with it both the notion of healing, associated with the trademarked adhesive bandages, and the notion that bands, pop bands, will be coming to the aid of the afflicted. Nice.

Time moved on and at some point people started talking about comedy being the new rock and roll. It had a lot of profile, could draw the crowds. Much to everyone’s surprise, the pop stars had failed to cure the world’s ills, perhaps it was time for the comedians to show them how it’s done. Again they needed a banner that could help connect a how bunch of people doing knob-gags in London could lead to the alleviation of deprivation at home and abroad. They struck upon Comic Relief. Again a good pun that is understandable as it takes an existing expression and uses it in a way that conveys the core function of the initiative.

Next the world of sport stood up eager to do its bit. Again people were talking of sports people as being the new rock stars, with their high-paying, lavish lifestyles. (It is interesting to note that they didn’t think of the sports people as the new comedians, possibly because footballers’ one-liners were never too good and often used their entire vocabulary, sometimes twice). Anyway they needed, like those who had gone before, a good name for the public to rally behind (maybe even literally). But why, oh why, did they settle on Sport Relief? There is no pun there. They have just swapped out the word Comic without realising that, in doing so, they have created something that is meaningless (if you look at their branding they even stole the comedians’ red nose motif!). Couldn’t they have come up with anything better? I know that sports men and women aren’t always the brightest in the class but they should have been able to come up with something a bit more resonant than Sport Relief. Every year it annoys me more that they opted for this name and missed out on the opportunity to adopt my suggestion of Athletic Support (I’ll leave it to you to devise an appropriate motif for the logo).