Revealed – Why Are Olympic Athletes Wearing Tape on Their Faces?

One of the reasons so many advertisers love to climb on board the Olympics broadcast bandwagon is the amazing opportunity for product placement. Advertisers know that people who watch and enjoy the Olympic Games are likely to watch for an extended period of time. This gives new products and even established products a chance to "strut their stuff" in front of an audience that is usually financially stable.

One of the big questions coming out of the Beijing Games as of late has had to do with "that stuff the skiers are wearing on their faces". Well that stuff is called KT Tape and if you've ever been to a chiropractor or physical therapist for a pulled, strained, or torn muscle you know all about that tape.

Those medical professionals use KT Tape as a way to provide light support for muscles that have been weakened because of injury or overuse. I must say in my experience with the stuff, it works as advertised and no, it doesn't require a thesaurus full of curse words when you peel it off. Those of us with hairy appendages know the pain of tape removal from our person.

So, the obvious question would be, "have all of these Olympic ski champions pulled muscles in their faces"? The short answer is No. What they are doing falls under the heading of "using a product for a different use than it was intended". It turns out that KT Tape not only helps with sore muscles, but it also makes for a great skin protector too. 

You see the temperatures and wind chill "feels like" temperatures on top of the ski runs have been brutal. The KT Tape helps protect the exposed skin from becoming irritated or dry because of that exposure. It's just another case of necessity being a mother and requiring some invention intervention.

Now, the folks who run KT Tape are flattered that their product is being used as a benefit to help so many athletes perform at the Olympics. However, they are stopping short of suggesting that you and I use KT Tape in this way. In fact, Greg Venner, CEO and President of KT Tape told the TODAY Show that "it isn't a clinically approved usage" to wear the product as a skin protector.

It's just the case of good old fashioned ingenuity if you ask me. Now, this certainly isn't the first time that someone has taken a good idea and applied it in a different direction.