So Bavaria Beer has apparently gone and "done it again" by organising an ambush marketing campaign, which found 36 woman in orange mini-dresses kicked out of the Netherlands-Denmark soccer match last week, with the two Dutch marketing 'masterminds' being subsequently arrested. Although I can't say I know much about the original ambush attempt back in Germany 2006 - Bavaria's not my flavour of choice and no one appears to have seen the inside of a court the last time. In fact, if I'd been at that match last week, I may even have mistaken the group of orange-clad girls as groupies, or WAGS, just there to support their boys. Who else besides the Dutch, Bavaria fans and watchful security would have known... or even cared? It's not like you could run down to the stadium refreshment stand and buy a Bavaria anyway. In fact, all the uproar over the stunt has actually played very nicely into Bavaria's hands... Loads of publicity over a group of girls being arrested for their attire, never mind the two facing possible jail time and all the international sympathy that comes with it... Instead of just politely removing the girls, giving them a quiet warning about not coming back and upping security at the next Dutch match, FIFA has blown this to astronomical proportions and isn't doing its own brand any good (see Herman Manson's FIFA loses 5-0). Now there are worldwide calls to let the girls go, including at least five Facebook pages and numerous YouTube videos - four of which have a combined total of nearly 100 000 views. You just can't buy that kind of coverage. And while Bavaria may get stuck with a hefty fine, at the end of the day, it's earned plenty of sympathetic mileage at FIFA's expense. As it is, the Federation believes the stunt was intended to upstage the official beer sponsor, but it seems to me that its FIFA's own actions that are just helping that intention along. As for Bud... who's Bud?

Shan Radcliffe, Retail editor
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Image: See this "free the Bavaria babes" video on YouTube.