Ambush marketing is the practice of running a marketing campaign around an event without actually being an official sponsor of the event or paying any fees to the person who conducts the event. One of the most well known examples of this happening in recent history is in the case of Pepsi’s ‘Nothing Official About It’ campaign during the 1996 World Cup in which Coca-Cola was the official sponsor.

It is often thought of as a form of unfair competition and can be carried out in any number of ways: through the use of slogans, through endorsements from participants such as sportspersons involved in the event concerned or by simply purchasing advertising space in the vicinity of the venue of the event.

Those who engage in ambush marketing do not (and cannot legally) explicitly represent themselves as being sponsors of the event. However, their tactics are often designed to implicitly create the impression in the minds of the general public that such an association exists.

At other times, they parody the ads of official sponsors who are competitors. Such parodies are often seen independent of any event, but when a third party is involved and the target of the parody has paid a lot of money to be associated with that third party (or an event organised by the third party) the dynamics of the relationship between the competitors changes.

In the case of parodies, copyrights and trademarks in the original would probably not be infringed. In addition to that, fair use and the right to freedom of speech and expression would usually ensure their legality which means that those targeted by ambush marketing would not easily be able to sue for copyright infringement, trademark violations or passing off although they may be able to sue under unfair competition laws.

India, like many other countries, does not have a law which specifically deals with ambush marketing or advertising. In fact, in 2003, the Delhi High Court said that ambush marketing is legal under Indian law in the case of ICC v. Arvee Enterprises and Philips.