Ad Disclosure
With the popularity of SEC football, it’s understandable why a political candidate such as Jeb Bush would want to align itself with the conference.
But the conference says it doesn’t endorse political candidates, and has been negotiating with the Bush campaign to modify a campaign logo that looks a lot like the SEC’s.
(photo: jeb2016.com)
The Bush campaign’s online store had been selling a drink koozie that featured a campaign logo resembling the conference’s circular logo, but used the letters “JEB” instead of “SEC.” The koozie has now been taken off the site, and the logo is expected to be altered or removed soon.
“The Southeastern Conference does not endorse candidates for any political office,” SEC spokesman Herb Vincent told USA Today. “The SEC has spoken to the Bush campaign to ensure that their activities are within the bounds of our trademark requirements.”
“We’ve been speaking with the SEC conference about that logo and ensuring that there is no trademark issues,” campaign spokesman Tim Miller told USA Today.
Bush, who was the Governor of Florida from 1999-2007, has recently appeared at tailgating events before football games at the University of Georgia and the University of Tennessee. He’s scheduled to appear at similar events before games at the University of Alabama and Mississippi State University in November. Earlier this week, the Bush campaign was referring to those events as “SEC Tailgating With Jeb.” The name has been changed to “Tailgating With Jeb.”
Republicans are gearing up for primaries on March 1 in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas. Those primaries are collectively being called the “SEC Primary.”
The Bush campaign’s website also has a video titled “Jeb’s SEC Favorites,” in which the former Florida governor discusses topics like mascots and rivalries, and predicts which teams will play in the SEC Championship Game. The logos of Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Florida and LSU appear in the background during the video.
University of Mississippi spokesman Tom Eppes told USA Today via email that the school’s logo “appears to be an incidental backdrop for a fun, upbeat conversation about the SEC, one that portrays the university in a positive light. … We would encourage the Bush campaign and other campaigns to follow appropriate procedure in the future, contacting our licensing office in advance, but we’re not concerned about this usage and don’t intend to make an issue of it.”
University of Alabama spokesman Chris Bryant told USA Today, in a statement, that the university “was not aware its logo would appear within a campaign video. No one should consider the use of the logo as an endorsement of any candidate.”
