We're going to start with several paragraphs from an AP story and hopefull move on to a discussion about the NFL, marketing and whatnot. (Photos, of course, from a party during the MLB All-Star break that has very little to specifically do with this story. Bold, as usual, supplied by us):

The NFL has scuttled a guerrilla marketing campaign designed to get players to strike a pose resembling a liquor brand's advertising. Yahoo! Sports reported Thursday that the move stems from a touchdown celebration by Philadelphia Eagles tight end Brent Celek during Sunday's game against the Dallas Cowboys. After catching an 11-yard pass from Donovan McNabb, Celek appeared to back up to align himself in front of television cameras. Putting his hands on his hips, Celek raised his right leg, mimicking a pose similar to the pirate on the label for Captain Morgan's rum. Yahoo! Sports said the Captain Morgan pose was banned this week after the league learned of a wider campaign meant to get players to strike it during NFL games. "The issue is that players are specifically prohibited under our policies from wearing, displaying, promoting or otherwise conveying their support of a commercially identified product during a game while they're on the field," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told Yahoo! Sports. "Whether it's rum or soft drinks or any other commercial product, that type of promotion is prohibited." The Eagles received a 15-yard penalty for demonstration after teammate Jason Avant tried to help Celek perfect his form. Celek has denied intentionally striking the pose, but an account executive handling the promotion told Yahoo! Sports the tight end was involved. "The (ad campaign) has been going around internally for a while and (Celek) learned of the program through his contact at Diageo (Captain Morgan's parent company)," said Glenn Lehrman, an account director at Rogers & Cowan, the Los Angeles-based firm that handles Captain Morgan promotions. "Brent said, 'You know what, if I get the opportunity, I'm going to go ahead and do it.' He sort of beat us to the punch, but we're certainly not going to complain." Lehrman said that each time a player was caught on camera in the pose Captain Morgan planned to donate to the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund, a nonprofit that helps retired NFL players.

Ah, so what we have here is a fight for precious marketing space (and money, because it stands to reason Captain Morgan would benefit greatly from the exposure, even with the planned donation). The NFL has a right to protect its product and its brand, even if numerous incidents from the past -- both reported and anecdotal -- suggest the league is sometimes way over the top. We also have a booze-maker essentially inserting itself into the televised action of an immensely popular sport -- basically trying to become part of the game, even if it is in a dead ball situation. Frankly, we think both sides come out of this looking kind of bad: the NFL for having to re-establish its reputation as the No Fun League and Captain Morgan for having the over-the-top gall to try something like this (but hey, free publicity now, too!).

Clearly we aren't experts in marketing. Our idea of branding, after all, is combining our last name with "ball." But this interests us for some reason. Anybody out there have another opinion about how this went down?

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Closed circuit to Patrick Reusse, who (reportedly) called us out on the radio this morning for not returning his Trailer Park Boys DVD: rest assured that as soon as we locate said DVD, we will give it back to you in all its glory.