TV Marketers All Quiet on Marketing Front Week Before Start of Rio Olympics

On the Friday before the Rio Olympics, TV makers and retailers were noticeably quiet about the opening of the games Sunday, traditionally a high-profile viewing event that spurs TV purchases. That’s likely due to strict trademark protection laws the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) promised to enforce in a letter to non-sponsor companies last month, said a report in Adweek. Sponsorship guidelines “have helped some unofficial Olympic sponsors leverage the games in their advertising efforts,” the report said, but companies that aren’t official sponsors like Panasonic and Samsung could face legal action for creating social media posts themed around the Rio games. Forbidden to non-sponsors is the use of hashtags that include Olympics trademarks such as #TeamUSA or #Rio2016, it said. The USOC letter warned businesses: "Do not create social media posts that are Olympic themed, that feature Olympic trademarks, that contain Games imagery or congratulate Olympic performance unless you are an official sponsor as specified in the Social Media Section." Phrases that can’t be used in marketing: Olympic, Olympian, Team USA, Future Olympian, Gateway to gold, Go for the gold, Let the games begin, Paralympic, Pan Am Games, Olympiad, Paralympiad and Pan-American, said the letter. The USOC didn’t comment.