One item that caught my attention deals with the world’s most popular sport. No it’s not baseball, basketball or football (at least not American style football). I’m talking about soccer (futbol). As famous and popular as our star athletes are, I’ve never heard of a defamation/trademark lawsuit quite like this. Obviously the name of a famous athlete as an endorsement can make a brand, and that is as true for an energy drink as it is for a sex toy it seems.
Beate Ushe, a German company, definitely thought that the names of 2 futbol players would make the difference in sales. They named 2 of their sex toy products after Mr. Michael Ballack and Mr. Oliver Kahn. They even timed the launch to start prior to the latest World Cup that was played in Germany.
[Sadly my team did not win, and you can see my various thoughts about that World Cup at Both my countries won the opening World Cup matches, USA vs. Czech Rep. - What happened there?, USA vs, Italy - we were robbed by the referee, Red cards, shades of color onscreens, and inscribed original products, Reflections on World Cup 2006, Who gets the Golden Ball and get your poker on]This did not go over well with these soccer stars. They sued to have the products removed from stores and their name usage stopped, and won their case.
One thing that was not revealed in this whole case was what the sales were like. I just wonder if use of their names really made a difference. I can’t help it, but it’s an odd curiosity to me if the name on these vibrators made a difference in their sale. I equally wonder what would sell better, an item of this nature named after Mr. Michael Jordan, Mr. Tiger Woods, wrestler HHH, wrestler the Undertaker, or international futbol stars Mr. Michael Beckham, Pele, Maradonna, or Ronaldihno. There is a competition of U.S. and international sports you just won’t see.
Like I said, it was an odd bit of news.
This is what I think, what do you think?
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