by Christian Duque
The sport of bodybuilding has always grown by leaps and downs when there is drama present. The idea of simply comparing physiques on stage during mandatory poses is not only boring but does nothing for audiences outside of those who compete and coach competitors. This is why Pumping Iron was such a huge hit because it created what is known as a docudrama. This is also why years where there has been dissent in the ranks and downright confrontations whether at the press conference or onstage have always been the years that most people like to watch.
I totally understand striving for positivity and professionalism. One would only hope that the sport was taken seriously and respected by all who participate in its ranks. That in theory makes sense. Besides, bodybuilding should promote health and well-being, it should promote longevity in terms of training, and it should also promote expanding the mind. All of these things are positive attributes that come from lifting consistently, eating clean, and adhering to a disciplined lifestyle. But that being said, if we are talking about selling tickets to shows, selling magazines and tubs of protein powder, then positivity alone is not going to do it. If anything, positivity is going to be a sleep aid rather than a growth factor. And this is why the feud between Tonio Burton and Rafael Brandao is so powerful and why I would like to see it continue on for the next few weeks, if not the next few months, all the way to the Super Bowl of Bodybuilding, the Mr. Olympia held in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The best feuds involve a variety of different factors. They need to have things that the audience has in common. They have to be things that call people’s attention. For example, this particular feud pits two countries against each other. On the one hand we have the United States which is the country where bodybuilding is based. It’s where the Mr. Olympia is held, it’s also where the most important Arnold Classic is held. The United States has been the driving force of bodybuilding since the early 1970s so having it in the equation makes all the sense in the world. On the flip side Brazil is a country that more and more Americans and Europeans are becoming familiar with because of the fact that it has spawned the Wellness Division and also because of the fact that it is a very large country with a tremendous amount of money invested in fitness. We have the Arnold Classic Brazil. We also have a very successful bodybuilding federation presence there as well.
Brazilian fans also travel around the world to the biggest shows and expos and generally have very deep pockets. So it stands to reason that having two of the richest countries involved in this view makes sense. Raphael has made the feud about Brazil and Tonio has of course promoted the fact that he’s from the United States. Rafael in particular said Tonio has to respect Brazil and that if he does not he is going to take that personally. That is perfect for the feud. Because it pins two countries against each other and everybody else watching has to pick a side.
That’s the thing with feuds. The fans don’t just sit on the sidelines, they actively engage. It doesn’t really matter why they engage or why they want a particular athlete to prevail over the other; the fact of the matter is it’s contentious. Within that animosity there is a lot that can be said. You can have people posting on message boards, maybe taking to Instagram live, maybe having arguments in the gym. Again all of this centers on negativity, but at the same time it ramps up the interest in the sport amongst fans from all walks of life. And that is exactly what we want especially for guys that may or may not be in that top six. Tonio and Raphael are both very much guys knocking on the door. They are both guys that have a pretty good shot at being in the Olympia Top 10. Tonio is still not qualified and Rafael just qualified by edging him out in a competition that Tonio and a lot of other people feel might have been politically-motivated.
Politics is a major factor in any feud. If one competitor wins controversially then that of course is going to feed the flames of conspiracy theories. The more people doubt in the judging, the better chances there are that the feud will not get resolved expeditiously. It has the tendency to drag on and on and on until one of the competitors chooses to be the bigger person and tries to extend the olive branch. At the current time, I don’t see either competitor doing that because they’re both pretty much wrapped in their own world. One competitor walked away with a victory and the other competitor felt like he was wrong. The fans have also taken sides and that is creating an undeniable animosity between both camps as well as potentially fans of each country.
If the sponsors are smart they will back their guy in the feud and may even run ads creating more drama between the competitors so that in turn that will result in more return on investment by selling more products at stores and digitally. At the end of the day, it’s all about retention.
Let’s not think small. When you are looking at website analytics, don’t just look at hits. When I ran the marketing for several of the biggest supplement companies in bodybuilding, I would always look at retention over merely the number of hits our pages got. If a visitor to a website clicks on three, four, or more links that means that they are staying on the website for extended periods of time. While they are on that website there’s a higher likelihood that they will order supplements or clothing or at the very least consider doing so in the future. One thing they might do is put their email into a mailing list or even potentially play some random game like spinning a wheel that requires them to make a purchase something in order to get their prize. Whatever the case may be, the longer a potential customer stays on a website the higher potential there is to make a sale. And these companies would be smart to invest in the feud – as opposed to trying to throw water on it.
The future is also very beneficial for competition promotion. For example, if there is bad blood between two competitors it would behoove the Master of Ceremonies to try to get both guys to go at it against each other whether it’s at the press conference, weigh-ins, or the check-ins. And of course it would also behoove the Master of Ceremonies to make sure to have the press nearby to capture any kind of run-ins. Because a run-in out at a oring event like a check-in or a weigh-in may create enough buzz so that potential contest goers feel the urge to go to the show the next morning and buy a ticket. Whether for the boring prejudging – or for the boring prejudging and the exciting finals.
The biggest mistake that a lot of federations make is trying to squelch drama and feuds because they want to present positivity and uniformity on stage. That is not always what the doctor ordered. If we were talking about growing a show and giving the audience something to get excited about, then feuds are exactly it. Whether they are legitimate or staged, matters not, the entertainment value is undeniable. Therefore, I think it’s very important not to ruin a good thing. Whether Tonio and Rafael hate each other or whether they agree to hate each other it doesn’t really matter as long as the fans don’t know any better.
On Tuesday night I did an Instagram live at @StrengthAddicts where I talked about the specifics of the feud. Tonio felt that Rafael wasn’t conditioned enough, that he had way more people there than he did, that the judges were partial because he was the hometown favorite, etc etc etc. On the flip side Rafael thought that Tonio was not conditioned enough, couldn’t beat him even at his best, and probably wouldn’t qualify for the Olympia, anyways. And then of course Rafael threw in that he did not want to hear about Tonio disrespecting his country of Brazil and that if he did so that he was going to take it personally. He also complained Tonio posing in his underwear it is gym and how he clogged the toilet. I mean some pretty trivial matters but perhaps a justification in each competitor’s mind to have some sort of a war with each other. And the reason that I call it trivial is not because their feelings don’t matter, but it’s because competitors don’t decide the scoring, that is reserved only for the judges. So for the competitors to get personally angry at each other for how they placed is rather preposterous since competitors don’t decide shows, judges do.
In summation we could talk about who should have won as opposed to who won or vice versa, but I will leave that to the various meathead podcasts and meathead YouTube channels. That’s not the point of this article. The point of this article is talking about the fundamental need and the undeniable entertainment value that feuds and negativity provide in a sport as boring and as underground as bodybuilding. In reality you may have a completely different opinion than me and that’s totally fine. The one thing that we never censor here at Iron Magazine. I invite you to leave your feedback in the comments. I also highly admonish you to copy and paste the link to this article on your social media feeds. I promise you it will lead to some very lively conversations amongst your friends and followers. As always, thanks for reading Iron Magazine.
