What is Ambush Marketing?

Precisely what ambush marketing is and whether or not it is contrary to the law are two questions at the heart of the short but storied history of guerilla advertising.  Broadly speaking ambush marketing can be thought of as the abuse of publicity surrounding a major event to gain brand recognition or similar benefit despite not having paid for the legal rights to do so. For the purposes of this article, we can consider ambush marketing the attempt, usually by a competitor of a legitimate (i.e. license fee paying) sponsor, to (i) associate an entity or its products with a major event in a manner misleading to consumers (“Ambush by Association”) or (ii) interject an entity or its products at or in close proximity to an event in such a way as to gain brand exposure (“Ambush by Intrusion”).