The NFL is cracking down on the product placement of Beats by Dre headphones now that they have signed an endorsement deal with Bose to become the official sound provider of the league.
Bose’s deal with the NFL prevents players or coaches from wearing any other kind of headphones on camera during interviews.
The NFL issued a statement that tries to make them look like the bad guys rather than Bose.
“The NFL has longstanding policies that prohibit branded exposure on-field or during interviews unless authorized by the league. These policies date back to the early 1990s and continue today,” an NFL spokesperson said in a statement. “They are the NFL’s policies – not one of the league’s sponsors, Bose in this case. Bose is not involved in the enforcement of our policies. This is true for others on-field.”
One of Beats by Dre’s incredible marketing moves was partnering with athlete endorsers. These high-profile athletes, such as LeBron James or Colin Kaepernick, would give out the headphones to their teammates, which in turn led to more exposure (websites would write stories about the gifts and the players would share photos of their gifts over social media). On top of that, these athletes would frequently share photos on social media that included their headphones as product placement. These moves were vital to Beats becoming a billion-dollar company.
“Over the last few years athletes have written Beats into their DNA as part of the pre-game ritual,” a Beats spokesperson said via Recode.net. “Music can have a significant positive effect on an athlete’s focus and mental preparedness and has become as important to performance as any other piece of equipment.”
Richard Sherman and Kaepernick are the two highest-profile NFL players to endorse Beats by Dre. No word yet from either one of them on the move.
As you can see in the image at the top, Kaepernick had to place tape over the Beats logo on his headphones when he wore them during interviews, but you could still tell the general brand of the headphones.
