The International Cricket Council (ICC) has dashed off a letter pointing out that a recent commercial Dhoni had featured in could be in breach of its ambush marketing laws.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has attracted the eyeballs that he would rather not. His recent endorsement of an electronic product seems to have caused a flutter that he could have done well without.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has dashed off a letter pointing out that a recent commercial Dhoni had featured in could be in breach of its ambush marketing laws.
According to sources, the ICC has written to chief executives of all the national boards reminding them of the need for strict adherence to the ambush marketing clause after the publication of the Dhoni’s commercial in a leading national daily.
The exact content of the letter was not known but the Board of Control for Cricket in India is believed to have been told that the Dhoni commercial constituted breach.
BCCI secretary N Srinivasan could not be immediately reached for comment but a Board official said the Indian players would be cautioned to ensure that
such things do not recur. So far, no instruction seems to have gone to the Indian skipper.
Team manager Ranjib Biswal has denied receiving any instruction from the BCCI. “We’re not aware of any thing,” Biswal said. Team India reached Chennai on Monday evening. In the advertisement, Dhoni was seen
endorsing a product that is a competition to an official sponsor of the World Cup.
As per the ambush marketing rules, that is not permitted from seven days prior to the start of the championship.
But Dhoni’s managers claim that all things were kept in mind before the shoot was done. “We have paid attention to every minute detail in the ICC guidelines. The colour of Dhoni’s clothing was changed and a re-shoot was done to ensure that no clause was breached,” said a manager of India captain.
When contacted, an ICC spokesman declined comment on the issue. Dhoni had held a long meeting with the top brass of the BCCI recently on the issues of commercials and endorsements. The India skipper was on teleconference with the BCCI officials when four India players, including Sachin Tendulkar, called on them in Mumbai on February 4.
However, sources say the discussion at the meeting was more on the players’ endorsements of their Indian Premier League (IPL) teams rather than on the World Cup related issues. “The meeting was not about these ambush marketing clauses surely. The discussion was on something else,” said a Board source.
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