Sponsors are becoming more visible at the Winter Olympics with product placement and arena shoutouts

MILAN (AP) — Eileen Gu and all the other freestyle skiers wait for their scores by a large Powerade-branded cooler, then glide away without taking a drink.

Bottles of the blue sports drink are stacked in hockey penalty boxes. Even the tissues in figure skating's drama-packed “Kiss and Cry” area are branded.

One way the Olympics generally stand out is by the absence of advertising on courses, rinks and slopes. But increasingly at the Milan Cortina Games, sponsors are creeping into the action.

“We continue to open up those opportunities for partners,” International Olympic Committee marketing director Anne-Sophie Voumard said Wednesday, noting sponsor products can now “organically be present” more widely.

The change has seemingly accelerated since French luxury goods maker LVMH prominently placed its Louis Vuitton brand at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“It seems like there’s been an increasing need and desire from the sponsors for the IOC to show greater value in the TOP program (for the biggest partners)," Terrence Burns, who has worked for the Olympic body in marketing and consulted for sponsors and hosting bids, told The Associated Press.

There's product placement on TV, even if it is still restrained compared to most American sports. Spectators inside the Olympic arenas hear shoutouts by the announcers and see logos on the big screen.

It's all happening as sponsors eye fresh opportunities for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The IOC is looking to create extra value in its TOP program, which has been a financial success for the organization over four decades. There are 11 TOP sponsors in Milan, after peaking at 15 in Paris. Revenue in 2025 dropped a bit to $560 million in cash and services compared to $871 million in 2024.

An Olympic hockey game looks clean and non-commercial on TV to NHL fans used to seeing sponsors on the boards. It's a little different in the venue.

“This is the Corona Cero wave!” roars an announcer, attaching an alcohol-free beer brand to efforts to liven up fans at a quiet afternoon game with a wave around the arena.

An automaker gets a mention with the “Stellantis Freeze Cam” and an interview with a boxer during the intermission between periods is “thanks to Salomon,” a skiwear brand that signed a sponsor deal with the Milan Cortina organizing committee.

Burns thinks the logos in Olympic arenas are a morale booster for sponsors, but worth relatively little compared to the big campaigns they typically launch in the year before the Games.

“I think it’s a psychological ‘Attaboy’ to see your brand on a board somewhere in and around the Olympics," Burns said. "I get it, but show me how that helps you sell more things.”

The Olympic Charter, a kind of constitution for the Games, says any logo in an Olympic venue must be approved “on an exceptional basis,” but the IOC has gradually relaxed its restrictions.

“The Olympic world moves slow, and it should. It’s a 3,000-year-old brand, so they've got to be careful with it,” Burns said.

Barely a decade ago, the “clean venue” policy was so strict that IOC staff checked the hand dryers in arena bathrooms to make sure they had their manufacturer's brand covered with tape.

For the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, restrictions on athletes promoting their personal sponsors on social media were relaxed after a legal challenge in Germany.

The Paris Olympics saw medals delivered to the podium in Louis Vuitton-branded boxes before athletes were handed a phone for “the Olympic Victory Selfie, presented by Samsung," a new tradition that's continued at the Milan Cortina Games.

Voumard, the IOC's marketing director, acknowledged the need to "be mindful of the legacy of those (Olympic) Games and the uniqueness of the presentation.”

The Los Angeles Olympics will break new ground on sponsorship.

For the first time, the IOC has approved the selling of naming rights for venues in a pilot program. The volleyball venue in Anaheim will keep its Honda Center name, just like it does for NHL games, and Comcast is putting its brand on a temporary arena for squash.

Until now, stadiums named for sponsors have had to switch to generic names for the Olympics. The O2 Arena in London became the North Greenwich Arena for basketball and gymnastics in 2012, and a raft of French soccer stadiums got new names for 2024.

Burns predicts the IOC might come under pressure from Los Angeles organizers to take further sponsor-friendly steps, and might need to push back on some requests to protect the Olympic brand.

“It’s not unreasonable to think that LA would look to what happened in Paris with Louis Vuitton or even Samsung on a podium,” Burns said.

"It’s their fiduciary responsibility to try to make as much money as they can. So they’re going to be looking for any and all opportunities to generate incremental revenue from sponsors. That's the IOC’s role as a franchisor to protect that."

AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar contributed to this report.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Anastasiia Golubeva and Hektor Giotopoulos Moore of Australia wait for scores after competing, during the pairs figure skating short program at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Slovakia's Milos Kelemen, left, Slovakia's Erik Cernak, center, and Slovakia's Patrik Koch sit in the penalty box during a preliminary round match of men's ice hockey between Sweden and Slovakia at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Fans are seen on a screen during an intermission of a preliminary round match of women's ice hockey between Japan and Sweden at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

From left, silver medalist China's Eileen Gu, gold medalist Canada's Megan Oldham and bronze medalist Itay's Flora Tabanelli take a selfie after the women's freestyle skiing big air finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mark Zuckerberg will testify in an unprecedented social media trial that questions whether Meta's platforms deliberately addict and harm children.

Meta's CEO is expected to answer tough questions on Wednesday from attorneys representing a now 20-year-old woman identified by the initials KGM, who claims her early use of social media addicted her to the technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts. Meta Platforms and Google’s YouTube are the two remaining defendants in the case, which TikTok and Snap have settled.

Zuckerberg has testified in other trials and answered questions from Congress about youth safety on Meta's platforms, and he apologized to families at that hearing whose lives had been upended by tragedies they believed were because of social media. This trial, though, marks the first time Zuckerberg will answer similar questions in front of a jury. and, again, bereaved parents are expected to be in the limited courtroom seats available to the public.

The case, along with two others, has been selected as a bellwether trial, meaning its outcome could impact how thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies would play out.

A Meta spokesperson said the company strongly disagrees with the allegations in the lawsuit and said they are “confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.”

One of Meta's attorneys, Paul Schmidt, said in his opening statement that the company is not disputing that KGM experienced mental health struggles, but rather that Instagram played a substantial factor in those struggles. He pointed to medical records that showed a turbulent home life, and both he and an attorney representing YouTube argue she turned to their platforms as a coping mechanism or a means of escaping her mental health struggles.

Zuckerberg's testimony comes a week after that of Adam Mosseri, the head of Meta's Instagram, who said in the courtroom that he disagrees with the idea that people can be clinically addicted to social media platforms. Mosseri maintained that Instagram works hard to protect young people using the service, and said it's “not good for the company, over the long run, to make decisions that profit for us but are poor for people’s well-being."

Much of Mosseri's questioning from the plaintiff's lawyer, Mark Lanier, centered on cosmetic filters on Instagram that changed people’s appearance — a topic that Lanier is sure to revisit with Zuckerberg. He is also expected to face questions about Instagram’s algorithm, the infinite nature of Meta’ feeds and other features the plaintiffs argue are designed to get users hooked.

Meta is also facing a separate trial in New Mexico that began last week.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives for a landmark trial over whether social media platforms deliberately addict and harm children, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives for a landmark trial over whether social media platforms deliberately addict and harm children, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives for a landmark trial over whether social media platforms deliberately addict and harm children, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives for a landmark trial over whether social media platforms deliberately addict and harm children, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Adam Mosseri, CEO of Instagram, arrives in court to testify in a landmark social media case that seeks to hold tech companies responsible for harms to children, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Adam Mosseri, CEO of Instagram, arrives in court to testify in a landmark social media case that seeks to hold tech companies responsible for harms to children, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)