A clever social media reference can quickly raise bigger questions when a celebrity’s identity carries significant commercial value.
Davis+Gilbert partner Jim Johnston spoke with World Intellectual Property Review (WIPR) about a dispute between soccer star Erling Haaland and Norwegian Air Shuttle over the airline’s use of a digitally recreated version of Haaland’s recognizable blond ponytail in a social media post. The image placed the ponytail on the tail of a Boeing 737 alongside the slogan, “We’ve never looked more Norwegian.”
The case highlights an evolving question for brands: when can a recognizable characteristic become closely enough associated with a public figure that its commercial use creates legal risk?
Jim noted that the stakes have grown as athletes increasingly build substantial businesses around endorsements and sponsorships outside their sport. “Athletes now derive a much greater proportion of their revenue-generating opportunities from outside their sport, through endorsements and sponsorships, making them more aggressive in alleging that such unauthorized uses diminish their ability to monetize their own persona.”
He also pointed to the potential implications for future endorsement deals, asking, “Would this diminish his ability to do an endorsement deal with Swiss Air, now it has been used by Norwegian? Does that diminish the value of his endorsement in this travel category?”
As the Haaland case moves toward a hearing in Oslo, brands will be watching how courts assess the commercial value of recognizable traits and what that could mean for real-time marketing that draws on celebrity identities or cultural moments.