Canny Nike hijack Wayne Rooney’s FourFourTwo cover shot
Major issues have been raised by Nike’s ambush marketing coup in having Wayne Rooney promote their boots on the front cover of FourFourTwo magazine’s World Cup issue.
The FA have regulations to protect the national team’s official sponsors. But in shamelessly draping a pair of Nike boots around Rooney’s neck when he’s centre stage in a picture of five players in England shirts, the swoosh brand have pushed a grey area to the limit.
Nike say their ownership of England shirt sponsors Umbro allows them to exploit the relationship to the full. But Umbro’s repeated claims they are a stand-alone company for their England contract will now have to be questioned.
FourFourTwo say they worked throughout with the FA, who, remarkably, have no complaints about the Rooney picture.
A spokesman for Nike, who are sponsoring the World Cup guide, said: ‘It was a quid pro quo agreement with the magazine for us arranging Rooney’s involvement. Any parent brand is going to maximise opportunities that arise.’ Umbro refused to comment
Source The Mail Online
Posted by Lee
If you liked this blog entry you can receive updates via email or RSS.
Share this article: Digg It, Stumble it!, Del.icio.us, Technorati
Posted
on Friday, May 7th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Posted In Football Boots, Football News | Tags: England, John Terry, Rooney, The FA, Umbro
I hope Wayne Rooney makes it back to full fitness before the World Cup - we’ll be lost without him
Think his new Nike Elite Boots Look superb, Will Lovell Soccer be getting them in?
Of course Umbro didn’t say anything…Nike owns all of Umbro