Bavaria knew it was breaking law - FIFA

21 Jun 2010

Dutch brewery Bavaria knew what the legal implications of its actions were when it flew out two women to run its marketing campaign during a World Cup game last Monday, as FIFA had sent it a letter explaining SA's laws, FIFA said last week.

The company got away with a slap on the wrist and valuable free publicity when it conducted a similar stunt during the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

This time Dutch nationals Barbara Jennifer Castelein and Minte Immy Niewpoort face criminal charges under, among other laws, the Merchandising Marks Act, and FIFA plans to file civil proceedings in SA against Bavaria. The two women appear in court again tomorrow.

FIFA's decision to take action against Bavaria has created a diplomatic, legal and commercial wrangle and has sparked much debate on the internet and social media, much of it sympathetic to Bavaria.

This was exactly what Bavaria intended, FIFA said.

Organised ambush

Far from being spontaneous action by supporters, the police investigation revealed a well-organised campaign in which the two Dutch nationals, one with marketing training, hired women from a South African events company to wear the orange mini-dresses to the game.

They had also illegally used tickets that had been issued to ITV presenter Robbie Earle and had arrived dressed as Danish fans in a "well-organised and planned operation", FIFA said.

FIFA said it wrote "to a large number of companies before the tournament drawing their attention to South African legislation which makes ambush marketing illegal".

FIFA believes the intention at both World Cup events was for Bavaria to upstage the official beer, Budweiser.

American group Anheuser Busch, the maker of Budweiser beer, paid nearly R400m to FIFA for the 2006 games.

Meanwhile, Bavaria is getting free mileage from the event with record searches in the UK on 15 June, through Wikipedia and Google in particular.

Who are the real losers?

Marketing expert Michael Goldman, who lectures for the Gordon Institute of Business Science, warned on Friday that FIFA and Budweiser could well be the losers if they did not handle the event carefully.

"Research after the Germany 2006 Leeuwenhosen incident suggests many Dutch consumers have a negative attitude towards Budweiser. If the numerous blog postings, tweets and YouTube videos and comments in SA and around the world are an indication, there is a growing negative attitude towards FIFA and (its) strong handed manner," he said.

Research found 46% of consumers believed ambush marketing was "extremely fair" and another 23% said it was "very fair", Goldman said.

Source: Business Day

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