“Neymar likes them Brazil-green. England’s Wayne Rooney, white. Luis Suarez, blue,” Esteban Israel reports for Reuters. “Banned from the pitch by FIFA for licensing reasons, the bulky Beats headphones are a favorite for many of the world’s top players, making the World Cup a huge unofficial ad for the company acquired by Apple Inc last month.”
“The colourful high-end headphones created by rapper Dr Dre have become a ubiquitous soccer accessory. Neymar wore them as he stepped off the bus at the Castelao stadium of Fortaleza for Brazil’s last training season on the eve of their match with Mexico on Tuesday. Suarez had them wrapped around his neck as he joked with his Uruguay team mates during a break at a recent practice,” Israel reports. “But soccer world governing body FIFA’s licensing agreement with rival electronics maker Sony Corp means players have to take them off when they are in World Cup stadiums for official matches and media events.”
“Marketing experts say that probably only amplifies their appeal,” Israel reports. “‘When fans see World Cup athletes wearing Beats in their downtime, by choice, it has as much impact as seeing them lace their Adidas (boots) or sip a sponsored beverage,’ said strategist Ellen Petry Leanse, a former Apple and Google executive. ‘Maybe more, actually – Beats isn’t a sponsor, so the message is more authentic and credible.'”
Read more in the full article here.
…why can’t people do what they wanna do if it’s not illegal.
It’s called a “contract”. Sony signed a contract with FIFA that included the clause “thou shalt not wear non-Sony headphones while in World Cup stadiums.” The teams have contracts (essentially) with FIFA that allows FIFA to dictate behavior while representing the team. And the players have contracts with the team (or their own sponsors) that allow the teams (or sponsors) to dictate what they wear, what they say and what they do. It’s all voluntary – if you don’t like it, you’re perfectly free to not get paid thousands of dollars to kick a white-and-black ball around the field.
Because Sony is paying $XX million dollars to sponsor the World Cup, Sony has the right to not allow non-Sony headphones, etc. in World Cup arenas. That’s one of the conditions of the contract. If FIFA didn’t agree to those terms, Sony either would not sponsor or would only agree to pay a much lower amount. Then FIFA couldn’t make its billions of tax-free dollars and line its board of directors pockets with as large of bribes.
True but no different to the Olympics sponsors.
so, Samdung could not make athletes hide their iPhone, but Sony can make players shove away their Beats?… weird.
Samsung did not have a ban in writing with the IOC.
One more reason Soccer is a stupid waste of a couple hours…
Like baseball…
you’re wrong
This has nothing to do with soccer. This was in the Olympics with Samsung products, it happens with beverages, etc. at major events like this.
Soccer- The world’s most boring game this side of cricket. Or lawn darts.
That’s why the world loves it as opposed to the English kids game that is baseball and the advertising spree with occasional 20 seconds of action that is American Football which after all is just a ruined one dimensional version of Rugby. Have you guys actually invented any games of your own, I mean we even invented ice hockey for you. That should do the trick.
Soccer: The sport for Euro-trash, third world shitholes!
i agree with your first 5 words but everything else your wrote is just as pathetic as the people trash talking soccer
Does not matter where it came from. Soccer is BORING to watch.
And the “beautiful game” is full of racism. The European Soccer fans are known for throwing bananas at players of color.
you’re wrong
NFL – the most boring game ever. goes for 4 hrs. only has 8 minutes of actual play. not to mention compared to rugby, its a game for pussys with all that padding and helmets.
The Pele-pukin’, Beckham-barfin’, endless, agonizing ennui that is soccer. I’d rather watch a Ballmer T Clown keynote rerun.
Our favourite ‘Developers, developers…’ rant is streaming, I’ll join you in the screening room with the beer and chipotle
I can feel the sweat drenching my shirt in wild anticipation!
I saw the headline and thought “what has the corrupt world of FIFA corporate brand fascism brought us today?” And was not disappointed.
This isn’t part of FIFA’s typical fascism. This is good old capitalism! Pay enough money and you can get your competition banned from being seen on TV.
Fascism is communism with added capitalism … Bit like China really these days.
Sony is the official headphones of World Cup 2014.
Beats is the official headphones of the entire planet! 🙂
Bowers & Wilkins beats Beats every way, everyday. Beats is for the Sheeple.
I would slap a Beat logo on a pair of Sony head phones in a heart Beat. Then see what they say. Maybe if Sony gave them all a FREE pair to use at the game. Free phones worked real well for companies like RIMM. Get the hole world market with FREE head phones! Or, just make a product that everyone wants to use and own. I believe that is Apple’s old approach to customer sales.
Beats suck anyway. Not sure why you’d spend that much for shit when you can get a pair of Bose for the same price. WTH
What most people miss is that Beats is outdoor gear.
You are paying for is durability, warranty, and of course perceived style.
Bose aren’t much better. Try Sennheiser instead.
Bose might even be worse than Beats! I can’t judge as I haven’t tried Beats, but Bose are essentially overpriced crap.
If you want good headphones, you buy AKG or Senheiser. Beyerdinamic, Sony, even Behringer are also good (in the middle price range).
Beats and Bose are consumer-grade cans designed to sweeten the sound in order to appeal to your average audience. Studio-grade headphones from reputable makers are supposed to have near-flat frequency response, giving you the most objective reproduction of the sound, without colouring it.
And none of those brands you recommend have any style, so no one wants to buy them. The people buying Beats want their bass big, not flat frequency responses.
Beats work just fine with an EQ app to tweak the higher frequencies. Mine sound far, far better than out of the box.
“Beats suck anyway. Not sure why you’d spend that much for shit when you can get a pair of Bose for the same price.”
so ask yourself why is Beats more popular?
is Bose marketing bad, people think they are ugly?
So why isn’t Bose improving design and marketing to crush Beats? PERHAPS because design, marketing might be really freaking hard?
(note I undertand PCs outsell Macs although inferior but they are mostly CHEAP units but you said Bose and Beats were ‘the same price’) So? If Beats MARKETING (i.e understanding the ‘pulse of the consumer’ and selling ) is awesome maybe that’s what Apple Bought i.e Marketing Talent to the new generation rather than technology?
If Apple can use Beat’s marketing talent to increase Apple product sales by say 5% that would be Billions of bucks.
people giving me one star, why don’t you reply with a a factual argument why my point might be wrong?
Sound, music, hearing are all personal and as such are impermeable traits and subject to confirmation bias. Your reasoning is no match for instinctive shielding.
“Not sure why you’d spend that much for shit when you can get a pair of Bose for the same price”
You forgot the /sarcasm tag and people are taking you seriously!
@Zach I personally own two pair of Studio headphones and I believe they’re great. But then again, tons of people own iPhones too…. Doesn’t make “us” wrong either considering that there is an alternative…. I’m glad Apple bought “Beats”. Smart move IMHO…
Dealing with FIFA is like dealing with the mob. You play by their rules or you don’t play. FIFA exempts itself from all local or national taxes. And if they tell the players they can’t wear certain shoes or listen to certain headphones, well, that’s how it is.
Sports these days is simply a device for selling products and making money.
Personally, I’d print off a Sony logo and stick it over the Beats logo with temporary glue.
Not sure if your average Wendyball player is smart enough to work out how to do that, mind…
There is no more corrupt governing body in all of sport than FIFA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlJEt2KU33I#t=22
And there is no more corrupt governing body is all the world that the US Congress.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kylesmith/2011/06/01/insider-trading-rules-that-dont-apply-to-congress/
Who cares. Beats are junk. You couldn’t give me a pair and I am not lying. Made of cheap material and sound horrible. Only way they could ever sound good is if Apple does something with them. If they do nothing, they will remain junk for the dummies who buy them because of the name. But then again there are a lot of dumb consumers out there. Look at all the people who own Samsung phones. People buy things often to be cool or with the in crowd in their circle. That idea has never appealed to me. I like quality over being hip. Hope Apple fixes the junk cans they just paid too much for.
For those who have my comment one star, tell me which part you disagree with?
Gave not have. Darn spell check sometimes.
I think you answered your own question
Regarding the FIFA World Cup:
call 1-800-GIV-ASHT.
The only important thing in sports is that the New York Yankees are 3.5 games out of first place in the AL East.
Ahh breaks my heart poor Luvs.
heh, knew you’d be devastated…take heart, it’s only June.
not to diss baseball but each World Series game averages 10-15 million viewers. Finals 2013 had 19 million.
One BILLION watched the last FIFA World Cup Finals. 3-4 billion watched some world cup
The two sports in viewership and fans isn’t even in the same universe. The World in “World Series” is really a joke.
in related news, the incidence of dysentery is higher in soccer-prone countries than the perfect bowels of New York Yankees fans.
‘soccer prone countries’
you mean like England, Scotland (treated as separate by FIFA) Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Greece, Australia, Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Japan…. etc
a lot of them have BETTER health stats than USA…
well, there might be some validity in your argument if you guys HAD ANY TEETH.
guess your teeth argument is about ‘War’.
shoot it’ll be so easy for me to say “perhaps they like to live in peace and SAVE the hundreds of billions from armaments (to the filthy rich arms dealers) to provide free heath care, sports facilities, better schools, clean energy plants… ” etc.
okay, what third world shithole do you live in?
joking aside, I quite agree with you regarding “live in peace and save the hundreds of billions from armaments” comment as I have been fighting this very evil since 1967.
hey I’m North american BUT…
can’t find dysentery stats but infant mortality is a used guide for health care:
USA infant mortality rate 2013: 5.2
UK: 4.5
Australia 4.49
Sweden 2.73
Singapore (another soccer country!): 2.59
Netherlands 3.69
Germany 3.48
France 3.34
Spain 3.35
Japan 2.17
oh god, another hoser.
ah just pulling your chain botty.
at least most of your posts are amusing.
(as for hoser, I think N.Americans need to be reminded of stuff, too often is “We know best” and politicians of every stripe make use of it: “Don’t complain” because this is USA and we know best. LIke politicians tell you ‘we have the Best Health Care in the World’ (go look at the mortality stats) because they don’t want to fix it. No this is not necessarily an endorsement of Obamacare… ).
Sports, any kind is fine, Baseball, soccer … as long as the predators don’t get at it e.g Putin’s 50 billion dollar Olympics AKA transfer of public monies to his ‘construction pal cronies’.
I’m through with baseball. The formerly touted league-leading San Francisco Giants have lost 9 of their last 10 games ignominiously. I snapped off today’s game in disgust. From now on, it’s world football for me. At least the matches conclude in an hour or so, unafraid of the tie score, such a silly anathema to Americans…
say it ain’t so.
I might be flighty, but I tend to return to the native pasture like all the rest. As long as they clear it of excessive droppings. Then I would happily cavort with the clan.
If the Giants go at least 6-4 in their upcoming homestand, I will breathe again.
hey, this is your area of expertise…what do you think about this BS?
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/irs-lois-lerner-emails-108044.html
I’m sorry, I can’t comment in any way, except to express my disappointment with the ability of our government agencies to come up with better excuses, and to expect future revelations after further probes, possibly involving constitutional challenges.
okay.
Another satisfied windows user community.
“With windows I can lose any data I want and no one could argue it’s not a systems problem”
And what do YOU think of this BS?
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kylesmith/2011/06/01/insider-trading-rules-that-dont-apply-to-congress/
to the best of my recollection Senator, nothing.
Update: 2.5 games out of first, The Mighty New York Yankees crush the hapless, Hoser Jays 7-3.
you dont care, yet you commented. seems you do care
and yet, you’re still wrong.
Actually, I am rather fond of Bang & Olufsen headphones.