Ambush Marketing

In early December 2006 the Government introduced into Parliament a new piece of legislation, the Major Events Management Bill. This is designed to make New Zealand a viable host of major events, such as the Rugby World Cup 2011. The Bill seeks to address two main types of ambush marketing, ie by ambush marketing by association (activity which improperly seeks to create an association with the major event) and ambush marketing by intrusion (which unfairly takes advantage of the attention of a ‘captive’ audience that is gathered solely for the purposes of the event). The Bill will provide generic type legislation for Major Events rather than event-specific legislation - as has already been enacted in a number of jurisdictions for respective Olympic Games or in the West Indies in respect of the Cricket World Cup 2007.