Olympic rules prohibit brands from celebrating until Games finish

You would think TaylorMade would be eager to plaster social media and its website with posts about Scottie Scheffler, one of its most-prized staff players, winning the gold medal in men’s golf at the Paris Olympics. After all, the world’s No. 1 player and the Masters champion used a new TaylorMade Qi10 driver, P7TW irons and a TaylorMade Spider Tour L-Neck putter to shoot 62 on Sunday to come back and win.

Sure, TaylorMade’s homepage on Monday morning featured a big image of Scheffler and the word “Champion” on it, but there was no mention of the Olympics, no backdrop of the Le Golf National course, no image of a medal and not even a hint of the Olympic rings.

And that’s exactly how the International Olympic Committee wants it.

Companies like Coca-Cola, Omega, Visa, Toyota and Samsung pay the IOC massive amounts of money to be worldwide partners of the Olympic Games. That mean you are not going to buy a Pepsi at an official Olympics venue or see a Rolex clock timing an event. It also means that the IOC puts heavy limitations on any Olympic-related exposure non-partner brands get.

A bye-law to Rule 40 of the Olympic Charter states:

Competitors, team officials and other team personnel who participate in the Olympic Games may allow their person, name, picture or sports performances to be used for advertising purposes during the Olympic Games in accordance with the principles determined by the IOC Executive Board.

In other words, no one involved in the Olympics can be used in new advertising while the Olympics is taking place. That means TaylorMade, which is Scheffler’s club sponsor, and Nike, which makes Scheffler’s apparel and footwear, are not allowed to promote his gold-medal win until after the closing ceremeny is done and the Paris Olympic Games are over.

TaylorMade, which sponsors Tommy Fleetwood and Scottie Scheffler, and Srixon, which sponsors Hideki Matsuyama, can’t use this image in a social media post or advertisement until after the games are done. (Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports)

The IOC even has rules that govern aspects of how companies can associate themselves with Olympians in the days leading up to the compeitions. One states that even generic advertising that features an athlete has to be in the market for at least 90 days (which this time around was April 18) prior to the start of the Olympic Games, and those advertisements need to run consistently and not be “materially escalated” while the Games occur.

Adidas…