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Advertisers revving up for the 2012 London Olympics are forewarned of strict U.K. advertising standards that prohibit them from using certain words in ads around the event.
Those that dare use words like ‘Game,’ ‘Medals,’ ‘Gold,’ ‘2012,’ and ‘Summer’ in any Olympics-related ads — across any medium — risk fines up to £20,000 (nearly $37,000).
The rules were established in the 2006 London Olympic Games and Paralympics Games Act, and are based on those used for the 2000 Sydney Games, reports The Observer (via MarketingVOX).
The standards laid out in the Act are intended to prevent “ambush marketing” — that is, when a company develops an advertising campaign that appears related to the Olympics, then benefits from that association, without actually having paid for “official sponsor” status.
As the companies never use the event logo, trademark, or trade name, it has been difficult for Olympics authorities to officially regulate marketing and protect official sponsors’ investments.
At the Beijing Olympics this summer, Chinese authorities “responded with their usual subtlety” by taking control of all prominent advertising sites to ensure they would be used by the twelve companies that paid $866m in total to be official sponsors, wrote The Economist.
But Great Britain has no such central control over its real estate, marketers from all countries must ensure their ads meet regulations. Failing to do so will result in a “rude awakening,” says the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
U.K.-based marketers are used to such treatment. The Advertising Standards Authority, a regulatory body whose job is to ensure ad don’t bamboozle citizens, has been long recognized for its tight strictures. Its casualties have included heretical haircare ads and even deodorant spots, which, according to the ASA, encouraged girls to behave unsafely in vehicles.
Last month, Apple’s iPhone 3G ads — which suggest users have access to “all the parts of the internet” — were deemed deceptive and banned, writes Adrants.
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