Neymar is truly the baddest boy in this year's World Cup. Fresh from allegations about him wearing non-sponsored underwear during one of his matches, the frosted hair Brazilian is under fire for sporting Beats by Dr Dre headphones despite being told that the items were banned from the tournament, Daily Mail reported. On Wednesday, Neymar brazenly wore the headphones at a press conference ahead of his team's quarterfinal match against Colombia, which would be in two days time.
FIFA, who has a sponsorship agreement with Sony during the month-long tournament, has somewhat having difficulties curbing the athletes' preference for the designer headphones, which comes in a variety of colors. Neymar is among the many athletes who have don the signature headphones for a commercial of the electronics company.
Sony's concerns about the appearance of their rival's items on athletes are legitimate. According to strategist Ellen Petry Leanse, a former Apple and Google executive, "When fans see World Cup athletes wearing Beats in their downtime, by choice, it has as much impact as seeing them lace their Adidas (boots) or sip a sponsored beverage. Maybe more, actually - Beats isn't a sponsor, so the message is more authentic and credible."
Perhaps Neymar and the rest of the football players could not help donning them, considering they were handed out by Beats for free. Reuters said that Beats is known for its "guerilla marketing" tactics in order to bypass licensing barriers, which includes handing out the headsets for free.
Sony in June reportedly handed out their own headphones to all participating World Cup players for them to take it to the games. But for Neymar at least, he prefers the more colorful one.
There is no word on whether FIFA has a disciplinary proceeding for players who have violated tournament house rules. On the other hand, Neymar would most likely get an earful from the world soccer body, no pun intended.
