This is an advertisement which appeared in the Ma’ariv newspaper in 1980 in which, Elite, the large Israeli chocolate and sweets factory, send their best wishes to Maccabi Tel Aviv ahead of the basketball final in the European Champions Cup. The game was played in Berlin, and about 10 days after the advert appeared, Maccabi Tel Aviv lost to the Spanish team Real Madrid.
In this advertisement, Elite, the company who sponsored Maccabi Tel Aviv for many years, compares their victory with the sweetness of the company’s chocolates. The advert also plays on the connection in Hebrew between the name of the company, Elite, and the English and Hebrew meaning of the word.
Elite was the first company to sign a sponsorship agreement with a sports team in Israel. The agreement was signed in 1969, a partnership that lasted until 2008. Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv was the team’s official name for almost 40 years.
Such financial agreements were commonplace in the United States during those times but not so common elsewhere. The contract stated that in return for payment, Elite would receive exposure through advertising during the team’s games. Over the years, the agreements were rewritten, the sums increased, and new advertising benefits were added
