While marketers who try to ambush Olympic sponsors in TV,
radio or print ads can anticipate "swift prohibitive action" from
ACOG and the IOC, the Internet remains a "wide-open field,"
according to Jeff Jensen of AD AGE. Rules and attitudes
concerning the practice "remain gray" due to the difficulty in
determining when a Web site is considered advertising versus
editorial. Jensen notes, though, despite the threat of
"widespread ambushing," Olympic execs and official sponsors
continue to maintain a "laissez-faire attitude" about the Net.
Jensen, on ambiguously defined sites established by non-Olympic
sponsors Apple and Nike: "With the start of the Games just a
month away, they might be wise to give Web ambushing a second
thought. ... The interlopers may have already begun walking in."
Bill Ferguson, Dir of the ACOP Sponsor Protection Division, says
sponsors have discussed the issue, but there has been little
action because the "technology has come around faster than the
law." Ferguson: "As long as it's just editorial coverage and
the marketer is not claiming a partnership with the Games, then
it's O.K." (AD AGE, 6/17 issue).