U.S. hurdler Lolo Jones was profiled on HBO's "Real Sports" last night, and HBO's Mary Carillo noted Jones has eight endorsement deals, including companies like Asics, Oakley and Red Bull, despite failing to medal in the '08 Beijing Games. Carillo asked, “How much of your success with these endorsements is because of the way you look?” Jones: “Probably some. You got to put this face on an ad. A lot of times people will attack me with, ‘Oh, you’re just getting this because of your looks.’ ... My competitors will talk about it and say, ‘She shouldn’t get all this attention. She doesn’t deserve that. She doesn’t have any medals,’ which just frustrates me because there’s nothing I can do about the way I look” (“Real Sports,” HBO, 5/22).
LOOK ALIKES: COURTHOUSE NEWS' Nick McCann reported a federal judge denied adidas an injunction against Herbalife, whose three-leaf logo adidas "claimed violated its trademark." adidas sued Herbalife in '09, claiming the company violated a '98 settlement agreement that "arose from a dispute over the companies' logos." The parties "argued over the remaining claims" before U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman in December. Mosman on Friday found that adidas "failed to prove that it suffered 'irreparable injury' from Herbalife's breach of the settlement agreement." adidas claimed in the lawsuit, "among other things, that Herbalife was using its logo to sponsor" the MLS Galaxy, which adidas already sponsored (COURTHOUSENEWS.com, 5/22).
DIRECT CONNECT: Fox Sports Net has sold a presenting sponsorship to Chevron for "GameConnect," its online second-screen companion to its regional MLB game broadcasts. "GameConnect" combines real-time game data, social media content, statistics and other content. Chevron has taken on the sponsorship for the duration of the '12 season as part of a larger, multimedia buy on various FSN channels. FoxSports.com, meanwhile, has also struck content partnerships with news-reading applications Pulse, Zite and the Washington Post Social Reader, giving the site additional distribution into several up-and-coming avenues for news consumption (Eric Fisher, SportsBusiness Journal).
PAIN RELIEF: In Detroit, Brian Manzullo noted Tigers P Justin Verlander and team athletic trainer Kevin Rand were "recently featured in one of Bayer's latest promotions." The two appear in a new 15-second TV ad that shows "it's Bayer Advanced Aspirin that keeps Verlander going every fifth start" (FREEP.com, 5/22).
