After the African Football Confederation which has given notice to MTN Cameroon to stop all advertising related to the African Football Cup of Nations (CAN 2021), organized in Cameroon from January 9 to February 6, 2022, It is the turn of the Cameroonian Football Federation (Fecafoot) to attack the telecoms operator. In a correspondence, signed on December 28 by its president Samuel Eto’o, Fecafoot threatens MTN Cameroon with legal proceedings, for the abusive use of the “Indomitable Lions” label.
Insidiously and especially without having acquired the marketing rights on the Indomitable Lions, you use the identifiers of the Cameroon national team (design of green-red-yellow jerseys and use of the term indomitable associated with a publication on football for communicate with Internet users around the world on your digital pages. Similarly, just look at said digital page to see the use of the image of the CAN Total Energies 2021, whose opening match will be one of the historic moments », Denounces the Federation.
Still, according to Fecafoot, this situation causes it significant commercial damage of around CFAF 50 million with official sponsors who are deprived of their exclusivity.
This is why we hereby ask you to proceed immediately to the end of ambush marketing [all the promotional practices used by a brand or a company to make themselves visible during an event – generally sporting – but without having paid the necessary money to its organizers to become an official sponsor and be able to associate its image with it], writes Feacfoot.
In his letter, Samuel Eto’o recalls that MTN is a repeat offender. Because, on February 10, 2021, Fecafoot had already sent a correspondence to the Cameroonian subsidiary of MTN to strongly deplore the illegal exploitation of said label with very explicit allusions relating to the services and performances of the Indomitable Lions A ‘during the African Championship. of Nations (CHAN) 2020 recently held in Cameroon. ” Despite all the observations and reservations made in said correspondence regarding the unfair use of rights belonging to Fecafoot, it is all the same regrettable to note that our concern has remained a dead letter “, underlines the president of Fecafoot.
“ MTN is a corporate citizen. It is not our intention to do anything wrong. We have responded formally to CAF. We will not make any other comments for the moment, ”replied the company following the formal notice from CAF. Also, the company has withdrawn the promotions incriminated by the African Football Confederation. But she continues to use hashtags like “#ReseauIndomptable”.
