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Red Bull, Verizon Tweets May Violate Olympic Advertising Rules

by Caleb Johnson on February 24, 2010 at 10:52 AM

The Olympic drama in Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games has spread from the slopes, ice, and tracks to, of course, the Twitterverse. According to the Wall Street Journal, Red Bull and Verizon Communications posted some tweets that violate Olympic sponsorship and advertising rules. Since the companies aren't official Olympic sponsors, they can't associate themselves with the event or any participating athletes during the Games or during the weeks leading up to them. Yes, the rules are that vague.

Last week, Red Bull tweeted a message rooting for Lindsey Vonn, Shaun White, and other Olympians, and then retweeted a message from Henry Yamamoto, posting "RT @henryyamamoto: Here's an idea for next Winter Olympics: Get @RedBull to produce it instead of some 'committee' or NBC Sports #olympics." Similarly, Verizon tweeted: "Who are the REAL American Idols? Shaun White, Lindsey Vaughn [sic] & Shani Davis draw more viewers than American Idol."

The Journal reports that neither company has been contacted by the International Olympic Committee or the U.S. Olympic Committee, but their respective Winter Games tweets were removed over the weekend. Anyway, it's unclear in what form the consequences will come -- whether in a fine or cease-and-desist letter. But, without giving specific examples, Lisa Baird, the chief marketing officer of the U.S. Olympic Committee, decried such marketing tactics, stating, "When people partake in this kind of ambush behavior, it hurts American athletes."

However, with the growth of social networking, it's harder to determine what is and is not an advertisement. In these instances, we don't think there was any malice involved. To us, it looks like both companies were simply offering genuine support to American athletes. Yet, on Twitter, the line between good-willed support and sneaky commercial promotion is a fuzzy one. [From: Wall Street Journal]

Tags: ads, advertising, redbull, socialnetworking, top, twitter, verizon, web, winterolympics2010

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