Rule 40 is a

by-law A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authority. The higher authority, generally a legislature or some othe ...

in the

Olympic Charter The Olympic Charter is a set of rules and guidelines for the organisation of the Olympic Games, and for governing the Olympic movement. Its last revision was on the 17th of July 2020 during the List of IOC meetings, 136th IOC Session, held by v ...

stating that only approved sponsors may reference "Olympic-related terms". It was introduced by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

(IOC) to prevent so-called

ambush marketing Ambush marketing or ambush advertising is a marketing strategy in which an advertiser "wikt:ambush, ambushes" an event to compete for exposure against other advertisers. The term was coined by marketing strategist Jerry Welsh, while he was work ...

by companies who are not official sponsors and to sanction links between athletes and unofficial sponsors during a blackout period starting nine days before the opening of the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

and continuing until three days after the closing ceremony. Controversy sparked in the days before the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

as Rule 40 was upheld to prevent companies from retweeting anything from the official Olympic

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account, or using official hashtags such as #Rio2016. The rules were loosened for American athletes for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) and the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) for the United States. It was founded in 1895 and is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado ...

(USOPC) chief marketing officer, Lisa Baird said the decision was made to "address the dissatisfaction of athletes but also protect the rights of the Olympic rights holders.” Companies not sponsoring the Olympics could make advertisements with Olympic athletes, but were not permitted to involve anything about the Olympics. The German Cartel Office in 2019 declared that all German participants in the Olympics no longer had to abide by the IOC's ruling. The Cartel Office officials agreed that many of their country's athletes rely on their sponsors to create a larger name and revenues for themselves. Since no athlete receives the money made by the IOC's sponsor advertising, the Cartel president decided that "self-marketing during the games plays a very important role," and he permitted the decision. The IOC added new updates to Rule 40 and created "Key Principles." The principles focus on how athletes can engage in monetary advertising practices with their sponsors if they have any. The IOC manages the rules of the Olympic Charter, but they have stated that

National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

s will be the main overseers of their respective countries. The USOPC has updated its protocols for Rule 40 for the

Tokyo 2020 Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. Sponsors and their athletes alike will be permitted to thank and congratulate one another during the Olympic events. Restrictions on what they can say will still be present. Athletes are limited to seven statements or social media posts gratifying their sponsors and sponsors will still not be permitted to include pictures or words regarding the Olympics.

References

2016 Summer Olympics 2016 controversies Olympic Games controversies Trademark law Twitter controversies Sports rules and regulations {{Olympic-stub