Beats By Dre co-founder likes brand exposure of NFL fines
Beats by Dre co-founder Jimmy Iovine said he likes the exposure of having NFL players wear his headphones.
Bose replaced Motorola earlier this year as the league's official sponsor of headsets that coaches wear on the sidelines. Bose first partnered with the league three years ago sponsoring home audio systems and speakers.
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was fined $10,000 this week by the NFL after failing to cover the Beats logo on his headphones during a post-game interview.
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The ban extends to training camps, practice and game day and postgame locker room and podium interviews.
Iovine, who founded the company in 2006 with rapper Dr. Dre, said he didn’t expect the publicity.
"We didn’t do anything, and now the players are going out and putting black tape on our logo," Iovine said, according to Business Insider. “It’s like, I can’t believe I’m this lucky. I feel like sending them the tape."
Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman and Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton were also seen wearing Beats headphones in warm ups before their games this week.
Iovine said that brands like Sony and Bose are out of touch with today’s culture.
"What happened there, you have a tech company that’s culturally inept," Iovine said. "There’s no one at the company that said, 'If you ban these guys, you’re going to look bad to the young people, and they’re going to look like superheroes even though they’re just pure capitalists — well they’re not pure capitalists, but they’re real capitalists and [they] sold that company to Apple — but you’re going to make them look like the underdog."
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