“Sports Law & Sports Business (Part 4) Sports Advertising and Marketing (2)”: Sports, Media & Entertainment Team

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Sports Law & Sports Business (Part 4)
Sports Advertising and Marketing (2)

In this column, we continue our overview of how sports advertising and marketing are regulated in Japan.

1. Sports facilities, uniforms, and sponsors

(1) General laws and regulations

Advertising and marketing activities in sports are subject to general regulations under the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations ("Misleading Representations Act") and the Unfair Competition Prevention Act. The Misleading Representations Act prohibits representations which mislead consumers, such as excessive or false representations, and requires that all representations of sponsor information or effectiveness and performance must be appropriate. On the other hand, the Unfair Competition Prevention Act prohibits, among other things, representations which may cause confusion with well-known indications of another party or damage another party's reputation or which are misleading in terms of product origin or quality, and can come into play in contexts such as ambush marketing.

(2) Rules of sports governing bodies

Nonetheless, it would be difficult to regulate advertising in sports solely through general-purpose laws such as the Misleading Representations Act and the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, which is why sports governing bodies of a certain size (such as national federations (NFs) and competition organizers such as leagues) have established their own rules regarding advertisements and uniforms.

For instance, rules of the Japan Association of Athletics Federations (JAAF) impose strict restrictions on advertisements which violate the values of sports or public order and morals (C7.1 1.7 of the Regulations on Advertising and Displays at Competitions). The JAAF regulations are consistent with the marketing and advertising rules of World Athletics, the international federation (IF) for athletics, with some additions and exceptions related to domestic Japanese competitions. The key provisions of the JAAF marketing regulations are as follows.

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[Contents]

1. Sports facilities, uniforms, and sponsors

2. Stealth marketing and social media

3. Summary

Japanese: 「【スポーツ法・スポーツビジネス概説④】スポーツにおける広告・マーケティング②」：スポーツ、メディア＆エンターテインメントプラクティスチーム

Simplfied Chinese: 《【体育法和体育业务概说④】体育领域的广告与营销②》