18 July
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The Olympics ‘blackout period’ begins.
Under Rule 40 of the Olympics Charter, Olympic athletes, coaches, trainers and officials must ensure that they are no longer featured in any advertising from this day until after the blackout period is over (on 15 August), unless they have obtained permission from the IOC, otherwise they could face fines, expulsion from the Games themselves and/or removal of their accreditation. This prohibition includes the use of their image (or other representation, such as a caricature), name and ‘sports performance’. Some exceptions will be made for official sponsors who have been granted permission and some very limited ‘deemed consents’. Those relying on ‘deemed consent’ must ensure it still applies during the blackout period, because many types of deemed consent will not.
Whilst the responsibility for complying with this rule ultimately lies with the individual athletes, in practice brand owners and agencies who featured athletes in their advertising campaigns in the run up to the games will have to abide by their contractual (and moral) obligations to stop featuring the athletes in their ads from 18 July onwards. Those who fail to pull the relevant ads (including billboard ads, press ads, on-pack promotions, in-store promotions and websites) risk undoing all of the goodwill gained from using those athletes in the first place, and will no doubt be caught up in a PR maelstrom. If you want to test the theory that there’s no such thing as bad publicity – now would seem to be the time!
Note that this ‘blackout period’ relates to Olympic athletes, coaches, trainers and officials, so Paralympic athletes can still be featured in advertising in principle, provided there is no unauthorised or misleading association with the Games or use of any Olympics related trademarks, protected words or symbols, copyright materials, etc.
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16 August
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The Olympics ‘blackout period’ for Olympic athletes, coaches, trainers and officials is lifted.
From this date on it will be safe to use them again in advertising, provided there is no unauthorised or misleading association with the Games or use of any Olympics related trademarks, protected words or symbols, copyright materials, etc.
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21 August
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The Paralympics ‘blackout period’ for the Paralympic athletes, coaches, trainers and officials begins.
Note that this ‘blackout period’ relates to Paralympic athletes, coaches, trainers and officials, and not to Olympic athletes.
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13 September
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The Paralympics ‘blackout period’ for the athletes, coaches, trainers and officials ends.
From this date on it will be safe to use them again in advertising, provided there is no unauthorised or misleading association with the Games or use of any Olympics related trademarks, protected words or symbols, copyright materials, etc.
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