the long and short of it
World Cup controversy: The vuvuzela stays but minidresses go
Women in orange minidresses were thrown out of a World Cup game, accused ofpulling an ambush marketing stunt for the Dutch brewery, Bavaria.Photo by Andrew Boyers/Action Images
But the vuvuzela stays.
Latest news at the World Cup: If you take that annoying vuvuzela into a stadium, you won't get banned. But if you wear an orange minidress, you're likely to get thrown out.
Is this a crazy world or what?
Despite a worldwide outcry about the buzzing sounds emitted from the plastic instrument, FIFA officials have refused to take sides, although the company that handles transmission of World Cup games said it had doubled the number of audio filters to cut down the drone.
ESPN is using a mix audio to tone down the sound like it sometimes does at Nascar and NBA events. The BBC, too, is looking at options to reduce the sound. The New York Times' George Vecsey wonders if the result will be a "vuvuzela channel" and a "vuvuzela-lite channel."
While the vuvuzela stays, 30 women in a orange minidresses were kicked out of the Netherlands-Denmark game in Johannesburg Two women were arrested for ambush marketing. FIFA officials said it was a stunt to promote a family-owned Dutch brewery, Bavaria.
Anheuser Busch's Budweiser is the official beer for the tournament and FIFA isn't amused when non-sponsors think up ingenious ways to market their brands and goes to great lengths to stop it.
"FIFA doesn't have a monopoly on orange," the home color of the Dutch national team's shirts, Peer Swinkels, marketing director at Bavaria, told the Wall Street Journal. "There wasn't even a Bavaria logo on the dresses."
Swinkels is being a little disingenuous because it was a pretty nifty ploy to get attention — and it worked.
Even so, it seems like world soccer's governing body cares more about their pocketbook than our ears.
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