The Yomega/Worlds Fiasco of 2007 was an incident that took place during the 2007 World Yo-Yo Contest. It all began when then-CEO Alan A. Amaral, along with others from Yomega decided not to sponsor Worlds. Sponsoring the contest generally entails permission to sell yo-yos in the main hall. Sponsorship also involved making a donation to the contest and getting ones' company name on the backdrop of the stage, in recognition as a sponsor. However, they still wanted to sell their yo-yos at Worlds. Thus, they devised a scheme to sell their products at the contest without having to sponsor it outright.
To accomplish this, they rented out a salon among others where the contest hosted workshops, and Yomega began selling yo-yos from there. Yomega had also distributed fliers amongst yo-yoers to promote their sale in the salon. To specifically avoid someone noticing that they were present yet not sponsoring the contest, Amaral and others did not register for the contest, and instead bought individual one-day passes.
Greg Cohen, then-organizer for Worlds, had quickly gotten wind of the unauthorized sale taking place outside of the Rosen Plaza Hotel's main hall. He immediately raided the salon with a SWAT team and four bulletproof helicopters, and thwarting Yomega's underhanded plan. He had also threatened to ban all Yomega-sponsored players from competing in the contest (including Shinji Saito and Justin Weber). In the following weeks, a massive argument broke out on the YoYoing.Com forum between Amaral and Cohen. Cohen, with assistance from Steve Brown, and the support of practically everyone who enjoyed Worlds, successfully defeated Amaral. Yomega suffered from bad publicity as a result of what had happened at Worlds, and many players cite this incident as a reason to avoid purchasing Yomega products.
In the aftermath of the fiasco, Yomega has taken significant steps to improve their reputation and image among yo-yoers. Yomega is a company with broad appeal for the external market of non-yo-yoers and beginners, but with initially little rapport within the community of yo-yo enthusiasts. In particular, Yomega has begun production of higher end models, designed for advanced players instead of just the beginner market.