The Olympic social media minefield

With less than two weeks to go before the start of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, sports fans around the world are getting ready to cheer on their nations’ athletes. While the games will be avidly consumed and analysed across all media, the British Olympic Association (BOA) is reminding businesses that unless you are an official sponsor of the games, jumping on the Olympic bandwagon is strictly forbidden.

The BOA’s guidelines for non-Olympic partners, athletes and agents (referred to as Rule 40), declare that during the games businesss will not be allowed to:

• Use any Olympic or Games trademarks including Olympic(s) (or similar), the Olympic motto “Citius – Atius – Fortius”, the Olympic Rings or the Rio 2016 marks.
• Use the Team GB, Believe In Extraordinary word marks, logos or hashtags.
• Use any images captured at Olympic Games venues (still or moving).
• Use any other Olympic Games IP (e.g. medals, team kit).
• Re-tweet any Team GB tweets at any time, or re-tweet athletes’ posts (which relate to the Games) during the Games Period.
• Reference athletes’ participation in the Olympic Games, including by way of congratulatory messaging during the Games Period.

To put this in simple terms, if a British athlete wins gold (and let’s hope many do), unless you are an official sponsor of the games, your business will not be allowed to mention it via social media.

Even a tweet as innocuous as the following is deemed unacceptable:

According to the BOA, Rule 40 (which is applied during the “Games Period” from July 27 until August 24) is designed to “Prevent ambush marketing, which might otherwise utilise athletes to create an association with the Games and jeopardise the funding of those, and future, Games, and the funding of Team GB.”

Social media teams might want to brush up on Olympic etiquette or face the wrath of the BOA.

A downloadable guide to Rule 40 and how it might impact on your involvement with the games is available from Team GB’s website.