Apollo Tyres, tyre manufacturer in India, is facing backlash following allegations of unauthorised use of Indian hockey goalkeeper PR Sreejesh‘s image in a recent social media post.
Apollo X Sports celebrated Sreejesh’s illustrious career with a post that carried the tagline, “Let’s #GoTheDistance One Final Time.” However, it notably did not include his name.
Baseline Ventures, the management firm for Sreejesh, is planning to initiate legal proceedings against Apollo Tyres.
Tuhin Mishra, Managing Director and Co-founder at Baseline Ventures, took to LinkedIn and wrote, “Dear Apollo Tyres, we expected that a firm of your stature will follow the rules. You will go and pay crores of money to the legend of Indian cricket (Sachin Tendulkar) and to Manchester United, but guess you don’t even think for a second to use the imagery and name of probably one of the greatest hockey players of India without paying a single rupee.”
“Please don’t think he is alone. We will take all the necessary action against this. But I also want to state that as a mark of respect for Sreejesh, I am throwing away all of Apollo Tyres that my cars unfortunately have. It’s astonishing that how corporate India like yours is going to treat our Living Legend of Hockey,” he added.
Recently, a similar incident took place, when brands used the image of Manu Bhaker, a 22-year-old shooter who bagged a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, in congratulatory marketing and advertisements without sponsoring her.
In 2021, while representing PV Sindhu, Baseline Ventures issued legal notices to around 20 brands for unauthorised use of her name and images in advertisements celebrating her bronze medal victory at the Tokyo Olympics.
