Women in Orange - how an outfit can get you arrested

I just came across something rather interesting, something I’ve never actually heard about before, but I assume it was only because of my ignorance - illegal advertising at sport events (or maybe any sort of events).

Dutch women dressed in orange outfits who appeared at Wold Cup game Holland vs. Denmark were arrested on the grounds of so called ‘ambush marketing’. When I heard about this my first impression was: well, they didn’t do anything wrong. They just wore colours of the team they supported.

Then I heard an expert on BBC talking about the incident and although I still feel it might have been just enthusiasm of funs cheering up for their team, I got a bit suspicious of whether it was just an innocent act.  

Please don’t ask me of the name of that expert who shared his opinion on this. I only remember that he is an experienced and professional art director (he knows a lot about advertising so probably spotting marketing and advertising stunts is in his expertise).

He said that even if these women were arrested and the actual brand was stopped from this ‘ambush marketing’, they received a lot of publicity around the world simply because this incident is something so controversial. And apparently the marketing stunt became a PR stunt. The expert said that this was probably planned and if so it was a very clever move by the company, which is Dutch beer brand Bavaria.

Another marketing expert, who also expressed her views on the matter, said that although the women might have seemed wearing only colours of their favoured team they dresses had small brand logos on them. This was one of the clues leading the officials to the arrest.

The expert also said that ‘ambush marketing’ is spoiling ‘party’ for everyone else who sponsors any events. Apparently, sports events wouldn’t be possible without sponsors; and they pay a lot of money for their visibility at, for instance, games and it is very unfair if someone steals that from them with illegal advertising.

Well, that made me think.

On the other hand, stopping these women from advertising ensured them with free public relations publicity, so the company gained perhaps more then they counted on.

* photo taken from: the guardian