FIFA isn’t messing around when it comes to any company getting free publicity from the World Cup. Not only has the soccer governing body made stadiums cover up all of their corporate sponsor logos, they have even gone so far as to make someone put tape over the logos on the condiments in the press box.
That’s right. Mercedes-Benz Stadium being renamed “Atlanta Stadium” and AT&T Stadium becoming “Dallas Stadium” was only the beginning of the brand restrictions FIFA has imposed on anything related to the World Cup.
In the press box of “San Francisco Bay Area Stadium” (AKA Levi’s Stadium), San Francisco Standard writer Kevin Nguyen revealed the extent FIFA will go to with its brand restrictions.
“FIFA, in its quixotic quest to protect the sanctity of paid sponsorship, had apparently dispatched workers to obscure the brand names on ketchup, mustard, soy sauce, and hot sauce,” George Kelly of The San Francisco Standard wrote. “The exhaustive effort went so far as to affix black tape on the top half inch of a bottle of Tabasco. The result was a master class in futility that delighted observers far more than any logo.”
Kelly also reported that the tape jobs extended beyond the press box.Workers also taped over logos of the giant dispensers of sauce available to the public.
Levi’s makes the best of FIFA’s brand restriction situation
While most people found the efforts FIFA has made to conceal the logos of any company that isn’t one of the World Cup’s sponsors, Levi’s, which had its logo covered up all around “San Francisco Bay Area Stadium,” decided to lean into it.
The clothing company is now using the covered-up logo on the stadium on its Instagram account.
The company also posted a video on Instagram highlighting their covered-up logo with the caption, “Welcoming the world to the beautiful [redacted] stadium!”
“Levi’s social media team got no chill,” read one comment.
“Changing your profile logo is advanced marketing,” someone else wrote.
“This is like asking to borrow someone’s house for a party, but asking them to leave,” another person commented.