Cricket Australia imposes restrictions on franchises in using Australian players for advertising

Cricket Australia (CA) has imposed a restriction on Australian players appearing in betting, fast food, alcohol and tobacco advertisements during their stints at the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) conveyed the information to all franchises of the IPL. CA had issued a similar advisory during the Big Bash League (BBL) for all players.

The advisory given by the BCCI said, “a full team photo – for use only by the sponsors of the relevant IPL team in print media in India and any such photo should not involve or include the name or branding of a company primarily engaged in the business of alcohol, fast food/fast food restaurants, tobacco or betting.”

The mail by the BCCI accessed by Cricbuzz said, “Cricket Australia has imposed the following restrictions on Franchisees’ use of Australian players in advertising and/or promotional materials: In any specific advertising or promotional activity featuring any Australian player (in any medium including TV, radio, press, outdoor, internet, point of sales or on-pack advertising), each Franchisee may only use: (a) no more than 1 Player who has a Central Contract with Cricket Australia; and/or; (b) no more than 1 Australian Player from the same Australian State; and (c) no more than 1 Australian Player from the same Big Bash team…“

The mail further read, “By way of example: A Franchisee may, subject to compliance with the remainder of these Player Regulations, the Player ID guidelines and the Player Contract, use three Australian players in any advertising material as long as no more than one has a Central Contract and all three are from different States and Big Bash teams.”

For example, the BBL is sponsored by KFC, a fast food brand, and the CA does not want two Australians from the same side seen promoting brands like McDonald's or Subway.

According to Cricbuzz.com, in a recent advisory to all the IPL franchises, the BCCI quoted CA as saying: “A full team photo — for use only by the sponsors of the relevant IPL team in print media in India and any such photo should not involve or include the name or branding of a company primarily engaged in the business of alcohol, fast food/fast-food restaurants, tobacco or betting.”

CA also wants not more than one player from a Big Bash League (BBL) side and a state team should be used in advertising campaigns during the upcoming IPL season.

Some statutory guidelines are there on the Indian players too, but almost in an inverse order. A franchise's campaign should not be based on one Indian player alone - there should be a minimum of three players in an IPL-related advertisement or in a hoarding. It is unlikely a Virat Kohli or an MS Dhoni alone would ever be seen in an IPL branding - they would, invariably, be flanked by at least two more players.

“That is not a major issue because alcohol, betting and tobacco brandings don’t happen in India anyway but the BCCI, in principle, should not accept such conditions,” said a franchise official. Meanwhile, another franchise official said the reason behind the thought process from CA was to rule out any competition from another country to their own brands and sponsors.

The IPL 2021 will see a total of 19 players from Australia ply their trade for different franchises this season. Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jhye Richardson, Rilie Meredith, Ben Cutting, Moises Henriques, Dan Christian, Josh Hazlewood, Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins, Chris Lynn, Adam Zampa, Daniel Sams, Kane Richardson, Josh Philippe, Andrew Tye, David Warner and Mitchell Marsh will play for different teams in the season.