Should Man Rule 40 Be Banned

For centuries, the Olympics has been a source of entertainment for millions. However, companies see the Olympics as an opportunity to advertise and gain new customers. Unfortunately for many smaller companies a rule prevents them from advertising, and athletes from wearing or using their products. This rule is Rule 40 which prevents athletes and coaches from starring in advertising or wearing clothing that are not approved by the IOC. Failure to follow this rule, could result in athletes losing awards and being disqualified. Rule 40 prevents athletes from choosing clothing they believe in, but instead only supports huge global corporations and the IOC. Rule 40 forces athletes to wear clothes that they might not want to wear, and, unless approved by the IOC, prevents them from wearing their preferred brand for performance in the Olympics. In the Achieve 3000 article “Rule 40: Fair or Not?” it is revealed that “Rule 40 has long perturbed athletes who want to appear in ads or social media posts with the companies that promote them.

This is proven in the Achieve 3000 article, in which it says “But many smaller brands found the changes inadequate, averring that unless an athlete was a superstar like Jamaican runner Usain Bolt, it was difficult to know in advance whether that athlete would become an Olympian. Additionally, smaller companies often had limited advertising budgets that prevented them from running ad campaigns continuously from March to August.” This highlights that even after the IOC made amendments to Rule 40 to “help” smaller companies, the IOC’s rules still favor major transnational corporations. The IOC still asks for an unreasonable amount of money for their own gain, and expects many small companies to just guess on who a future Olympian star will be. The IOC has no care for any company who isn’t on Forbes biggest companies