An altered image posted after the U.S. women's 4 x 1500-meter team finished second at the IAAF World Relays Championships on Saturday led to a cease-and-desist letter and renewed discussion about the role of sponsorship in elite running.
After Saturday's race, Oiselle, sponsor of team member Kate Grace, posted a photo (shown below) on its Instagram feed of Grace and her teammates on the awards stand. The photo shows the Nike logo on the U.S. uniforms replaced by each of the logos of three of the athletes' current sponsors. In the altered photo, Katie Mackey's uniform showed the Brooks logo, Grace's the Oiselle logo, and Brenda Martinez's the New Balance logo. Heather Kampf, the fourth team member, is sponsored by Asics, but the Nike logo on her shorts appears not to have been altered.
The post spurred the United States Track & Field to send a letter via email to Oiselle asking them to remove the doctored photo immediately.
"We posted a photo to thank all the sponsors who supported the athletes that set an American record," said Sally Bergesen, the founder and CEO of Oiselle, who shared the letter in a blog post. "Five hours later, we received the cease-and-desist letter from USATF claiming potential damage to their sole sponsor [Nike], and we took down the photo to remove any questions or confusion."
How to Start Running an announcement made in April. Except for footwear, Nike provides all of the apparel worn by U.S. national teams. Upon acceptance to a national team, athletes sign an agreement saying they will not alter the uniform or logo.
However, according to Jill Geer, USATF's chief public affairs officer, the photo did not violate any written USATF rule.
"This is a professional business intellectual property issue," Geer told Runner's World Newswire. "We own the uniform, and any alteration of the uniform itself or in photos is a violation of our intellectual property. This applies to any professional organization.
"Let’s say a company took an NFL jersey and put other logos on it. The NFL would send a cease-and-desist letter or perhaps even sue the company doing it," Geer added. "Or if someone took photos of athletes wearing Oiselle and put other logos over the Oiselle logo, what would Oiselle’s reaction to it be?"
For legal reasons, Geer said she could not cite any specific recent incidents regarding improper use of the Nike logo or uniform, but said the federation "send[s] cease-and-desist letters regularly to a range of companies, whenever we see it being used inappropriately or altered in any way. We have to protect the business interests of our national team uniform as well as the integrity of the uniform."
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"But we’ve never had someone go and replace the logos and create the false impression of the uniform being another brand," Geer said.
News of USATF's letter sparked backlash on social media after controversy surrounding the men's and women's 3000-meter races at the USA Indoor Championships back in February has yet to be resolved.
"This is a non-issue in regards to the current affairs involving the USATF," Bergesen said. "There is still an athlete who needs justice after being disqualified in Albuquerque, and we would rather USATF focus on the athletes' well-being across track and field rather than an Instagram photo."
USATF declined to comment on Oiselle's mention of the controversy in Albuquerque. A group headed by IAAF Senior Vice President Bob Hersh is currently looking into all events from the USA Indoor Championships and will be issuing a report in June.
Here is the photo in question, reposted by an Instagram user before the photo was removed from the Oiselle account. The photo shows the Nike logo replaced by the Brooks logo on Katie Mackey (second from the left), the Oiselle logo on Kate Grace, and the New Balance logo on Brenda Martinez.
