Beats Audio was “caught by surprise” over the Rule...

Beats Audio was “caught by surprise” over the Rule 40 International Olympic Committee controversy that exploded from the Olympic Games in London, a source told Consumer Electronics Daily. Beats went after the Olympics in the same way it targets “influencers” for other high-profile music and sports events, the source said, where rules over branding at events “aren’t as strict.” Beats offered, as it has before, a “safe house” in London where the brand could be visible and media and athletes could “hang out,” the source said. Beats, which “gifts” headphones to sports and music celebrities, doesn’t pay them for product endorsement, the source said. Beats officials weren’t available for comment. The IOC, meanwhile, referred us to the U.S. National Olympic Committee regarding information about specific athletes or teams when we asked if swimmer Michael Phelps was told to cover up the logo of his Sol Republic headphones before his final race (CED Aug. 7 p6). “As far as the IOC is aware,” there’s “been no breach by the athlete mentioned regarding promotion of specific products,” IOC spokesman Andrew Mitchell told us. Mitchell said the IOC is working with all of the NOCs to remind teams of the guidelines “related to commercial activity” during the Games and the Olympic Games’ “clean field of play” policy. When instances of “overt unauthorised branding” occur on the playing field, he said, “we will take action” to address the situation and “if necessary cover the branding.” He said the IOC’s first priority “is always the athletes, so in applying the guidelines we would take a pragmatic approach so as not to interfere with the athletes’ preparations.” The U.S. National Olympic Committee didn’t respond to questions by our deadline.