Telstra Forced To Pull Guerrilla Ad Promoting Channel Seven Olympics App

Australian telecom Telstra "has been forced to pull an ad promoting the Channel Seven Olympics app after receiving legal letters about the guerrilla ad," according to Nic Christensen of MUMBRELLA. The campaign, which aired for less than than a week, "was set to a modern version of Peter Allen’s song  'I Go to Rio' and appeared to be a deliberate attempt to join the Olympics bandwagon, despite Telstra not being a sponsor of the Olympics." The ad began running last week on TV but has since been pulled and a disclaimer was added to its website declaring that "Telstra is not an official sponsor of the Olympic Games, any Olympic Committees or teams." The ad "appears to have been pulled despite not being inside the Olympic blackout period," which puts a ban on the use of terms such as "Olympic," with the period beginning on July 27 ahead of the Games which start on Aug. 5. The Australian Olympic Committee "declined to comment" (MUMBRELLA, 7/12).