New bylaw to protect rights of sponsors

BUSINESSES and residents who erect signs or advertisements in the Ironman village come September will be fined up to R10 000 or jailed for up to six months.

This is if the council passes a new bylaw next week that would prohibit ambush marketing at events hosted or co-hosted by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.

The bylaw, which was presented to the public last month for comment, was agreed upon by the mayoral committee yesterday.

If approved, it would prohibit companies from marketing their businesses at events where they are not the official sponsors or vendors.

Continued offenders will be forced to pay a further fine of up to R15 000.

The bylaw was prompted by the metro’s host city agreement for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in September.

It will remain in place beyond the event and be implemented at other events hosted or co-hosted by the metro.

It will also supplement the city’s existing outdoor signs bylaw to deal with ambush marketing during events hosted in the metro.

Sports, recreation, arts and culture boss Noxolo Nqwazi said the bylaw was targeted at businesses and individuals who had not paid for marketing rights but erected branded signage at events.

“During a World Cup, the event has its own sponsors. For example, during the Soccer World Cup the cold drink sponsor was Pepsi Cola, not Coca-Cola,” Nqwazi said.

“In the perimeter of the stadium, you can’t see branding from Coca-Cola or anyone else.

“During the Ironman 70.3 World Championships, there will be international television and the TV [cameras] must not capture within the Ironman village anything else other than the approved sponsor.”

Nqwazi said while residents could attend the event in branded clothing, municipal officials working there could not.

In her report, Nqwazi wrote that ambush marketing could potentially dilute the commercial value of an event for the sponsor and the event organiser.

“Ambush marketing is accordingly a threat to the long-term future of securing commercial sponsorship of events.”

The proposed bylaw also dealt with people who created fake Ironman merchandise and passed it off as original merchandise.