Sponsorship

Sponsorship was the program which allowed a mentor to send helpful items to a tribute in the Hunger Games. These gifts were sent with donations from sponsors, such as rich citizens from the Capitol or family and friends in the tribute's home district. Tributes were sponsored based on their first impression at the Tribute Parade, training scores, impression in the interviews, performance in the arena, as well as a number of other factors.

Mechanics[]

The sponsorship program was created in the lead-up to the 10th Hunger Games by Coriolanus Snow, as part of a project proposed by Dr. Gaul. Along with it came the idea of betting on the tributes. This was done so the Capitol audience would engage more with the tributes and draw more attention to the Games.^[1]

Through mentors, sponsors could donate money to support their favorite tributes. Mentors could then choose what to send into the arena and when. Tributes could be sponsored by individuals or groups, as was the case for Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark; for example, Greasy Sae started up a collection at the Hob to sponsor them in the 74th Hunger Games,^[2] and a number of people in District 11 chipped in to send Katniss a loaf of their district's signature bread.^[3]

Sponsor gifts[]

Sponsor gifts generally consisted of food and drink, medicine, weapons, or tools.

History[]

10th Hunger Games[]

In the 10th Hunger Games, mentors sent sponsor gifts via communicuff,^[4] and they were able to do so very often, but the catalog was limited to bottles of water and a small selection of food (apples, bread, and cheese). These were delivered by drones that found their recipients using facial recognition,^[5] but it was a flawed system. The very first gift of water had to be re-sent,^[6] and sponsor gifts were the tributes' only means of obtaining food and water inside the arena. This incentivized tributes stealing each other's gifts. District 3 tributes Teslee and Circ were even able to manipulate the drones themselves, weaponizing them against other tributes.^[7]

Later years[]

In later editions of the Games, items were delivered by silver parachutes. However, any gift that was sent cost an exorbitant amount,^[8] with the cost increasing the longer the Games went on.^[3]

Strategies[]

Mentors could use the timing and selection of their gifts to communicate indirectly with their tributes. For instance, in the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss was able to glean ideas about strategy from Haymitch Abernathy's choice to send or withhold gifts from her.^[9] Rebels did something similar with the alliance of rebel victors in the 75th Hunger Games; they sent coded messages in the form of bread, based on the number of rolls sent and the district of origin, in order to signal the time and day of their rescue from the arena.^[10]

Known gifts[]

10th Hunger Games[]

Day 1[]

• Lamina - water - failed to deliver, had to be re-sent^[6]
• Teslee and Circ - bread and water^[6]
• Dill - water - stolen by Treech^[6]

Day 2[]

• Coral and Mizzen - food and water^[11]
• Sol - "every bit of food [her mentor Iphigenia Moss] could" - stolen by Coral, Mizzen, and Tanner^[11]
• Jessup Diggs - many water bottles - sent by his mentor Lysistrata Vickers to trigger a fear of water symptomatic of rabies, protecting his ally Lucy Gray Baird; some bottles taken by Lucy Gray and Reaper Ash^[12]
• Lucy Gray - bread and cheese^[12]

Day 3[]

• Lamina - "a storm" of water, bread, and cheese - traded some with Reaper for a scrap of the Panem flag to protect her from the sun^[13]
• Coral, Mizzen, and Tanner - breed, cheese, and apples^[13]
• Treech - food^[13]
• Teslee - food^[13]

Day 4[]

• Wovey - food and water - one apple taken by Reaper, the rest stolen by Coral and Mizzen^[14]

Day 5[]

• Treech - food^[7]
• Reaper - food^[7]
• Mizzen - bread, water, and cheese^[7]
• Teslee - "a dozen parcels" - stolen by Treech^[7]
• Lucy Gray - "a feast" of food and water^[7]

65th Hunger Games[]

Finnick Odair received many sponsor gifts during his Games, evidently including food, medicine, and weapons. Later on, his mentor sent him a trident that Katniss recalled as being the most expensive gift she had ever seen in any of the Games.^[15]

74th Hunger Games[]

• Day 4: Katniss Everdeen - burn ointment^[8]
• Day 9: Katniss - small, crescent-shaped loaf of bread made of dark ration grain, from District 11^[3]
• Day 11: Katniss and Peeta Mellark - pot of hot broth^[16]
• Day 12: Katniss - sleep syrup^[17]
• Day 14: Katniss and Peeta - basket of fresh rolls, goat cheese, apples, and a tureen of lamb stew on wild rice^[18]

75th Hunger Games[]

• Day 1: Katniss, Peeta, Finnick, and Mags - spile^[19]
• Day 2
  • Katniss, Peeta, and Finnick - pungent skin ointment; soon after, a fresh loaf of District 4 bread^[20]
  • Katniss, Peeta, Finnick, Johanna, and Beetee - 24 bite-sized, square District 3 rolls^[21]
• Day 3
  • 24 more District 3 rolls^[22]
  • Small pot of spicy red sauce and 24 more District 3 rolls^[22]

Differences between the books and films[]

• The gifts did not come in a protective silver container in the books.
• In The Hunger Games film, Katniss only received the burn medicine and soup.^[23]
• In the movies, the parachutes let out a distinctive chime,^[23][24][25] but in the books, they were silent.
• In the movies, the gifts Katniss received were accompanied with a small note from Haymitch to hint what she needed to do with the gift or how she needed to act to stay alive.^[23][24] However, in the books, there were no notes; Katniss was left to interpret for herself what each gift meant.
• In The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, after the first drone was shattered, there was no indication that the gift was re-sent. When Lucy Gray is surrounded by tributes who want to kill her, Snow sends in numerous drones which shatter around them, creating panic and confusion and buying her time to escape.

References[]