Olympic rules prohibit athletes from being in new ads until after the Games

Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images
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.

Tommy Fleetwood, Scottie Scheffler, Hideki Matsuyama
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 released an updated version of the Code Chaos shoe two weeks ago, and Rose Zhang is expected to wear it when she competes for Team USA. When Adidas communicated news of the new shoe to Golfweek, it wanted to pass along Rose’s thoughts on the shoe, but added, “Quotes from Rose will need to be held until August 13 as we abide by the Olympics rule of no Olympian [being] involved in any new promotions during July 18-August 13.”

Companies can’t use terms like “The Road to Paris” or “Paris 2024” in generic ads either, show images of Olympic venues or iconic Paris images. That includes the Eiffel Tower, L’Arc de Triumph or just about anything else Parisian.

Rule 40 even forbids brands from congratulating athletes if they win a medal on social media during the Olympics. The Instragram post below went up on Sunday, but if you didn’t already know Scheffler had won the Olympics, you would never know it from TaylorMade’s post. No Olympic rings, no uniform, no Paris images, no medal … is that the Washington Monument in the background and maybe even the Reflectiving Pool?

Athletes like Scheffler also also governed by Rule 40, which states that as an athelte in the Games, Scheffler can send a thank you message on social media to brands he is associated with, but he’s limited to one per non-Olymic partner, but it must be:

A single thank-you message to each personal non-Olympic partner during the Games period can be posted to multiple platforms (posting a single identical message to multiple platforms must take place at the same time).
Not include any statement or imply that a product or service enhanced the participant’s performance;
Not include a personal endorsement of the relevant product
Not be linked to any activities incompatible with the values of the Olympic movement (e.g. gambling); and
Not make a connection with the Olympic Games, the IOC, the Olympic Movement, the OCOG, the NOC or the National Olympic Team.
The PGA Tour’s Whyndam Championship takes place this week, but Scottie Scheffler won’t be competing. The next time he is likely to tee it up will be at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, Tennessee. That week, the IOC rules governing Olympians in advertising comes down, so don’t be surprised if you start seeing Scheffler and gold medals appearing on social media. It will go nicely with a green jacket, and possibly a FedEx Cup.