Netherlands to organise the “orange dress” ambush marketing campaign, world
football body Fifa said today.
The Fifa media desk said: “In this case, it has surfaced that at
least two co-ordinators were flown in from the Netherlands to organise this
ambush activity – they hired innocent local girls and devised a strategy.”
This included training the group of local girls before the
match.
Also, according to Fifa, the organisers’ strategy included:
“disguising them as Danish fans (covering their orange dresses) and using a
decoy group to divert the attention of Fifa and safety and security authorities
to another area while the big group entered the stadium through another side,
and then compelling them to lie to the police about the organisers’ involvement
in the activity.”
“They also obtained tickets from unauthorised sources,” said
Fifa.
Two Dutch women, Barbara Castelein and Mirte Nieuwpoort, appeared
in the Johannesburg Magistrates Court yesterday after a few dozen women, all
dressed in the same orange miniskirts, were taken in for questioning by the
police on Monday.
The orange miniskirts were handed out in Bavaria gift packs in the
Netherlands Holland ahead of the World Cup.
The pair face charges of contravening the SA Merchandise Marks
Act.
Yesterday, police could not say why only two women had been
arrested.
Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant reported online yesterday that it was
believed the two women arrested had their flight tickets and accommodation in
South Africa paid for by Bavaria, while the other South African women wearing
the dresses only seemed to have been hired for the day.
Fifa said: “Fifa has filed charges against the organisers of the
ambush marketing stunt pulled during the Netherlands vs Denmark match at Soccer
City. No charges have been filed against the young South African women used in
this illicit activity.”
Fifa said it had warned companies before the World Cup that South
Africa had legislation criminalising ambush marketing: “Fifa strongly
disapproves of companies who employ ambush marketing tactics to promote their
brands at big sporting events without having contributed to the organisation of
those events.
“Fifa wrote to a large number of companies before the tournament
drawing their attention to this specific South African legislation, to avoid any
unknowing infringements,” the world football governing body said.
Fifa said it was “appalled” that these companies “use innocent
people as a tool to conduct these unlawful activities”.
“Fifa is looking into all civil remedies available and will await
the outcome of the criminal case currently being run by the South African Police
Service.”
Bavaria is not a World Cup sponsor and Fifa has built up a
reputation for aggressively protecting the commercial interests of its sponsors.
