Pro Racket Paintjob - illegal ?

[Tombhoneb]

Correct me if im wrong but surely it must be illegal for a company such as babolat or wilson to false advertise their rackets ?

ie Nadal saying he uses a APD with cortex when he doesnt ?

cheers

[Gorecki]

illegal no. imoral... maybe!

[t-swede]

Originally Posted by Gorecki

illegal no. imoral... maybe!

heres some interesting read from head and richard gascquet enjoy !


[B]You play with the MG Extreme Pro. Why do you like that racquet?[/b]I really like this racquet because it’s powerful, and that is important for my game. I can play with a lot of topspin which is crucial for my backhand. The MG Extreme Pro helps me to improve my game.

what a joke everyone knows that he plays with the instinct tour xl including himself yet he keeps the consumer believing otherwise lame !!

[certifiedjatt]

technically, companies are not advertising their rackets through pros. that's just how we interpret it (and they obviously know that). they're simply paying the pros to use their stick knowing that the audience is watching. so, they aren't doing anything illegal. it's quite different from actual advertising in which companies ad. a product with specific specifications. if the actual product does not meet those specification, only then is there some sort of a violation...

[certifiedjatt]

when a player says "i'm using so and so...", it's HIM lying, not the company falsely advertising. and lying isn't illegal!

[BreakPoint]

Originally Posted by t-swede

heres some interesting read from head and richard gascquet enjoy !


[B]You play with the MG Extreme Pro. Why do you like that racquet?[/b]I really like this racquet because it’s powerful, and that is important for my game. I can play with a lot of topspin which is crucial for my backhand. The MG Extreme Pro helps me to improve my game.

what a joke everyone knows that he plays with the instinct tour xl including himself yet he keeps the consumer believing otherwise lame !!

Don't forget that Head probably makes 10-20 different racquets all with the marketing name of "MG Extreme Pro", only one of which they sell to the public. So, yes, Gasquet does indeed use A "MG Extreme Pro", just not the same "MG Extreme Pro" as the one we can buy in the stores. So unless a company specifically says that a certain pro uses - "the SAME racquet at the one sold in the stores", like Wilson has said about Federer's K90, just saying that a pro uses a certain model name doesn't really mean anything because there could be many different racquets all given the same marketing name. Internally, they have no model names at all, just code numbers to differentiate them.

I don't think there's a law against companies giving many different variations of a product the same marketing name when they're only selling one of the variations in the market.

[retrowagen]

Next someone will suggest that NASCAR drivers are driving actual Fords, Chevrolets, Pontiacs, and Toyotas - the same cars one can buy at the local dealership --!

Really, by and large, professional tennis rackets are closely analogous to the relationship these NASCAR race cars have to their consumer bases. The race car is merely a facsimile of the consumer good, just like the tennis pro's frame is a highly tailored, custom item, often made to look like the mass-produced version one can find in the local sporting goods store. This practice seems much more widespread nowadays than it did 20 years ago, though.

But in the end, who cares? Why does this matter so much? The pro is paid to "endorse" a certain model for a certain brand, hence he is being paid to sing its praises, even if he is earning his paycheck using something else, albeit disguised to look like his "signature racket." Anyone who feels shocked and manipulated by marketing exercises such as this is probably a bit naiive

[Nanshiki]

40 years ago that was true... NASCAR was literally "win on sunday, sell on monday."

But for a number of performance and safety reasons, now they're just identical frames with identical body covers with some lame stickers to make them look different.

[Tombhoneb]

Originally Posted by certifiedjatt

when a player says "i'm using so and so...", it's HIM lying, not the company falsely advertising. and lying isn't illegal!

Isnt this false advertising ??

http://www.babolat.com/english/tenni...?idproduit=202

' used by rafael nadal ' .

[LafayetteHitter]

Surely people can find something better to do. Why is this so important that people have to try to figure out a way to profit from it.

[BreakPoint]

Originally Posted by retrowagen

This practice seems much more widespread nowadays than it did 20 years ago, though.

But even almost 40 years ago, Rod Laver painted his wood Dunlop Maxply Fort racquets to look like aluminum Chemold racquets (who was sponsoring him at the time). Yes, he painted wood racquets to try and make them look like they were aluminum! Not easy to do.

[10isDad]

Originally Posted by Tombhoneb

Isnt this false advertising ??

http://www.babolat.com/english/tenni...?idproduit=202

' used by rafael nadal ' .

He could have hit one ball with the stick and it's "used by Rafael Nadal"?

Frankly, he uses the racquet: to advertise for Babolat. He doesn't hit w/ it, but certainly uses it.

[BreakPoint]

Originally Posted by Tombhoneb

Isnt this false advertising ??

http://www.babolat.com/english/tenni...?idproduit=202

' used by rafael nadal ' .

No, it's not. Because, again, it doesn't say that Nadal uses the SAME Aeropro Drive as the one sold in the stores. But he does indeed use an "Aeropro Drive".

[Rorsach]

Originally Posted by BreakPoint

But even almost 40 years ago, Rod Laver painted his wood Dunlop Maxply Fort racquets to look like aluminum Chemold racquets (who was sponsoring him at the time). Yes, he painted wood racquets to try and make them look like they were aluminum! Not easy to do.

And Lendl with his Kneissl/Adidas/Mizuno or McEnroe and Navratilova with the Max200G or Becker with his Puma/Estusa.

[BreakPoint]

Originally Posted by Rorsach

And Lendl with his Kneissl/Adidas/Mizuno or McEnroe and Navratilova with the Max200G or Becker with his Puma/Estusa.

But McEnroe always used a real Max 200G, the same one we could buy in the stores. He never had it paintjobbed AFAIK.

[tennisfever8181]

Originally Posted by Tombhoneb

Isnt this false advertising ??

http://www.babolat.com/english/tenni...?idproduit=202

' used by rafael nadal ' .

Yeah it says "Aeropro Drive" (which is what he uses). It doesn't say "Aeropro Drive Cortex", which is what he has a PJ of..

[Rorsach]

Originally Posted by BreakPoint

But McEnroe always used a real Max 200G, the same one we could buy in the stores. He never had it paintjobbed AFAIK.

He did have it completely blacked out for a time (for whatever reason). Don't know if this constitutes a paintjob though.

[Tombhoneb]

Originally Posted by tennisfever8181

Yeah it says "Aeropro Drive" (which is what he uses). It doesn't say "Aeropro Drive Cortex", which is what he has a PJ of..

I was thinking that as well but then it has the picture of the cortex technology therefore making it the APDC ... maybe they have done it in a certain way to cover their *** !!

[JediMindTrick]

Originally Posted by BreakPoint

Don't forget that Head probably makes 10-20 different racquets all with the marketing name of "MG Extreme Pro", only one of which they sell to the public. So, yes, Gasquet does indeed use A "MG Extreme Pro", just not the same "MG Extreme Pro" as the one we can buy in the stores. So unless a company specifically says that a certain pro uses - "the SAME racquet at the one sold in the stores", like Wilson has said about Federer's K90, just saying that a pro uses a certain model name doesn't really mean anything because there could be many different racquets all given the same marketing name. Internally, they have no model names at all, just code numbers to differentiate them.

I don't think there's a law against companies giving many different variations of a product the same marketing name when they're only selling one of the variations in the market.

I don't think it's legal, I think it's false advertising. It's just that no one sued them yet.

[maximo]

Is there any players that don't use paint jobs?