'No Rules!' by Windows95man won Uuden Muusikin Kilpailu 2024 to represent Finland at Eurovision this year. Ironically, the Finnish artist ran into one unexpected thing...rules.
Eurovision's branding rules state that lyrics are prohibited from containing "messages promoting any political cause, company, brand, products, or services".
Windows95man was allowed to keep his stage name, but is not allowed to wear the t-shirt or cap with the Windows logo on it on the Eurovision stage. Teemu Keisteri, creator of the Windows95man persona and one half of the duo performing 'No Rules!' at Eurovision, told is.fi that he intends to censor the logo "in the funniest possible way".
Windows95man later appeared in a video on social media wearing a t-shirt and cap with the censored logo:
Estonia 2024
'No Rules!' wasn't the only Eurovision entry this year to run afoul of Eurovision's branding rules. '(Nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi', Estonia's 2024 Eurovision entry, had to undergo a lyric change, as the original lyrics mentioned the brand name Lay's. Lay's Estonia made posts on social media partnering with 5MIINUST & Puuluup in the lead-up to Estonia's national final 'Eesti Laul', promoting the artists' song and the brand's potato chips.
These two entries were not the first to be changed as a result of Eurovision's branding rules.
San Marino 2012
In 2012, San Marino's Eurovision artist Valentina Monetta's entry was originally titled 'Facebook, uh oh oh (A Satirical Song)'. A few days after the internal selection and release of the song by the Sammarinese broadcaster SMRTV, the EBU deemed that the song contained an unreasonable commercial message for Facebook, breaking rule 1.2.2.g, which stated that "commercial messages within songs are not allowed", disqualifying the song from competing in Eurovision. SMRTV then released a new version of the song titled 'The Social Network Song (Uh Oh Uh Oh Oh)', removing direct mentions of the Facebook name within its lyrics.
Australia 2016
Australia's own Dami Im faced scrutiny in 2016, as her song 'Sound Of Silence' was thought to have referred to Apple's product 'FaceTime' in the lyric "Trying to feel your love through face time". On 5th April 2016, the Eurovision Song Contest reference group published a statement confirming that the song would be allowed to participate without a lyric change, stating: "The lyrics of the Australian song are presented as two separate words, 'face time' and not FaceTime which is an Apple trademark".
Israel 2018 and UK 2023
Although Netta's Eurovision-winning entry 'Toy' mentions Barbie, Pikachu, and Wonder Woman, and Mae Muller's 2023 Eurovision entry 'I Wrote a Song' contains the lyrics "wanted to trash your Benz" (referring to a vehicle made by Mercedes Benz), neither entry was deemed to break Eurovision's rules regarding branding or product placement.
For those craving a Eurovision song packed to the brim with product placement, look no further than this video from National Partner of the Eurovision Song Contest, Easyjet. The tune features Scooch, UK's 2007 Eurovision artist.
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