Britons play silly buggers with the Olympic Brand Police

[Montaigut]

As part of the London 2012 (twenty twelve) Olympics sponsorship contracts, the rings logo and the words London, 2012, twenty twelve and Olympics are off-limits to anyone wanting to use them for promotional purposes (fines of up to BP 20,000). To enforce these rules, some 350 special agents have been hired to patrol the realm...

But.... human spirit is indomitable and will fight back. You gotta love it!!

Some of the counter publicity examples below:

Typical reply

And the Gold medal reply goes to our friends from Oz

Link to full article below if you are interested.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2012/07/britons-play-silly-buggers-with-olympic-brand-police.html

[Ken Gargett]

i saw where a bakery was in serious trouble for displaying donuts in the form of the rings. shows just what a crass, ridiculous farce the olympics are. after the crap some of ours are going on with (latest is a threat by an athlete, later retracted, to sit out the opening ceremony if a female athlete doesn't carry the flag, preferably her - actually someone i know and i know how driven she is but this is crazy), i am already completely over it.

toss in endless drugs.

for someone who was once besotted with the olympics, and happy to watch just about any sport, it is very sad for me to say that the sooner it is over the better. could not care less. will be really pissed if they cut into coverage of any of the footy games to show this crap.

and not that i ever want to be seen as defending poms but i'd blame the olympic committee and organisers rather than britain itself.

[CaptainQuintero]

Can't wait for the whole thing to be over with security it's costing upwards of £22 billion, sponsors have put in £700m and that has let them take over a quarter of London.

The only beer on sale in Heineken, the only food is Mcdonalds and the Only non alocholic drinks are by Coca Cola. No place can sell chips by themselves apart from McDonalds, but they can sell them if they are with something eg fish and chips. The whole city has been shut down road wise.

There are cases of old ladies who had knitted Olympics rings to decorate the route of the torch but have been threatened with court action so they have had to take them down. Anything with the existing words 'London' 2012' Olympics' Gold' Silver' Bronze' has had to have been taped over.

The sponsors also get to choose a certain number of torch bearers to carry the olympic flame around GB, the news never shows this but you can find pics of Chinese, Americans from Sponsr's companies. Not to mention the pointless celebs not even from GB like WIll'i'AM

The opening ceremony which cost £65 million has been cut short by 30 minutes because the organisers realised that the buses finish their shift before the end time.

No one can use the special soviet style olympic lanes so taxies cannot pick up or drop off fares at the side of the road, forcing old people and the disabled to be let out in the 3rd lane of traffic a quarter of a mile away from the olympic park

Not to mention the IOC has force the british olympic committee to overturn all lifetime bans for drug cheats, so we now have a load of ex dope cheats representing team gb!

Not to mention the 24/7 fawning on the news channels while hundreds of people are dying in Syria, floods in China etc etc I've had to start watching the News on Al Jazerra just to actually find out what's happenning outside of the Olympic park!

All the proceeds are going straight out of the country to Coca Cola, McDonalds, Heineken and Visa. For footing a fraction of the bill, so zero economic bonus for the UK (Before you even account for the £22 billion cost).

I can't wait until the whole shady corrupt thing finishes, but with the launch of over 50 channels this month dedicated to the olympics, I'm guessing that I'll be spending a lot of time away from the box!

end rant/

[Puros Y Vino]

The Olympics are ridiculous. It's just a traveling road show that lays all the expenses on the host city and walks away with all the profits. Montreal only just finished paying the bill for the 1976 Olympics a few years back. Every time a politician in Toronto talks about Olympic bids I cringe. I could care less for this sham of an event.

[riazp]

I dont get how a fast food chain like mcds and soft drink company coca cola can be official sponsors for a sporting even when their products are the total opposite of what athletes eat...(other than weight lifters probably) Just shows that the IOC will take money from anyone and everyone who will shell out.

[Styler]

I'm with CaptainQuintero, it's been total farse from the get-go. Nearly every product advertised on TV is the official Shampoo/razor blade/detergent/bin liner/etc for sposnoring the Olympics. The BBC can't shut up about it, they seem to have convinced themselves that every single person in the UK is foaming at the mouth for every scrap of Olympics related news they can get their hands on. The reality is that I don't know a single person in Scotland or England who's opinion isn't "I can't wait for it to be over".

[CaptainQuintero]

I forgot to mention, with all of the above regulations you would think that the only people getting a positive from this are the companies who built the stadia and olympic pakr, right?

Wrong, no comapy or individual involved in any of the building or development process can advertise that fact until 12 years have passed.

[Vortigan]

I agree with all the above.I wish I had something slightly more high brow to say but it's the biggest pile of overblown w.ank we've seen for some time.So many towns and cities have been brought to a standstill of late while they parade clones of this bloody flame through the streets,at Christ knows what collective cost,in order to celebrate the fact that for two weeks in London a few people are going to throw things and run about a bit!!! etc ......glorified bloody sportsday!

[winelover]

Too much bah humbug here for my liking. Yes it is corporate, but then if big MNCs are providing the funding, they have every right to protect the advertising rights they've paid for. The only other alternative is to get rid of the sponsors and let the taxpayer reach further into his pockets - or otherwise put on an austerity games like London 1948.

We all grumble but how else can they stage it? If you bid for the Olympics the understanding is that you don't do mediocre. I think it will be a good games and I am positive about it.

[CigarAsh]

Regardless of the commercial hype surrounding it, I love Olympic years. I'm a huge sports fan and this really is the epitome of all things sports. Enough with the endless cycle of professional sports seasons that repeat over and over. This is a chance to see the non-professional sports (yeah, I know, it's all professional now) that you don't typically see and you get to see some amazing athletes performing at their peak.

I lived in Los Angeles in 1984 when the games were there. There were endless predictions of horrible traffic jams and terrible fiascoes at the event sites. In the end, half the city fled on vacation during the games and it was the most wonderful, traffic-free two week period in my years in LA. I loved it.

[CaptainQuintero]

Too much bah humbug here for my liking. Yes it is corporate, but then if big MNCs are providing the funding, they have every right to protect the advertising rights they've paid for. The only other alternative is to get rid of the sponsors and let the taxpayer reach further into his pockets - or otherwise put on an austerity games like London 1948.

We all grumble but how else can they stage it? If you bid for the Olympics the understanding is that you don't do mediocre. I think it will be a good games and I am positive about it.

Sponsors put in around £700m out of a bill of upwards of £22 billion, where are the rights of the tax payers who own businesses nearby who had had to either cease trading during the olympics or had their hands tied behind their backs? The rights of the taxi drivers who have been told they shouldn't use half the road network their taxes paid for, and the government tell people to only use public transport?

It isn't the only alternative either, it's typical city laziness. There could have been a way in all the sponsorship deals to make sure that a certain percentage of the market has to go to local companies. Eg Heineken get's the big venues to sell in but around the Olympic park there are stalls where you can get real British craft ales; you know something this country is famous for. Same with the food and drinks etc.. This didn't happen as the people doing the contracts couldn't be arsed to put the work in and deal with 100+ companies, instead they just have to deal with half a dozen MNCs who will give them a wad of money upfront.

Another way would have been the austerity Olympics like you said. No sponsorships at all (They are only contributing 5% at most as it is, yet they have the entire capital and country at gunpoint with advertising and shark lawyers). Use existing venues, have traditional ales, food stalls with fish and chips, indian food, caribbean cook outs and a good old English knees up party.

I'm pretty sure everyone would enjoy that instead of this plastic corporate crap we've been given where essentially the games could have been hosted in any western nation and you would not know the difference. Drop a bunch of tourists down in the middle of the Olympic park and they wouldn't be able to tell you which western country they are in, unless they look at the price of the food and drink (£7 for a pint of watery fizzy Dutch pisslager). Generic sports venues and the same half dozen MNC that you find on every street from California to Helsinki.

This games doesn't celebrate one unique thing about the host nation apart from the amazing ability of the average Brit to be able to bend over and take it right up the chuff yet be able to say thankyou and ask for more!

A woman summed it up beautifully this morning on radio 4. She said the Olympics is rather like my sons 18th birthday,in that I paid for it all, I host it in my house, but I'm not invited. And that sums up what the British Olympic games is all about.

No bah humbug from me, instead some choice words a lot more unique. Which is what these games are all about, yes?

--------------

I think I've caught something off Piggy!

[CanuckSARTech]

....I think I've caught something off Piggy!

OH GAWD, CALL THE DOCTOR QUICK!!!! There must be a vaccine or treatment for it!!!! You don't want THAT to be permanent!!!!!

[frenchkiwi]

Sponsors put in around £700m out of a bill of upwards of £22 billion, where are the rights of the tax payers who own businesses nearby who had had to either cease trading during the olympics or had their hands tied behind their backs? The rights of the taxi drivers who have been told they shouldn't use half the road network their taxes paid for, and the government tell people to only use public transport?

good one and interesting to hear the figures of public contribution vs corporate ... plenty of corporate bludging off the taxpayer as usual

perhaps the irony of ironies is that Lloyds TSB is one of the Olympics sponsors shutting out the locals (after being part of the 1.1trillion bailout you might have thought they would tone it down). They might as well bring some Barclays employees in to fix the scoring ...

[MrGlass]

I don't even particularly like sport, but I like the Olympic Games for whatever reason and am looking forward to them.

It's sad that the focus of the games has moved from the events themselves to the corporate giant it has become, but I understand how this progression has occurred. I'll just continue making the most of what's on offer, and enjoy watching what I can of it on my little TV here on the other side of the world.

[winelover]

Sponsors put in around £700m out of a bill of upwards of £22 billion,

I think your stats are misleading. I've not had a chance to do thorough research, but a google search seems to suggest that costs have ballooned to £9BN with sponsors providing around £1BN of the costs. That is a substantial contribution in my book.

I'm afraid I haven't had time to read past your opening sentence to comment further, so may do so later.

Even if I don't agree, I appreciate the passion shown in your line of argument!

[Fuzz]

I won't be watching the Olympics until the introduce full contact tiddly-winks as an offical Olympic sport!

[khamy]

I'm just happy that i have something more interesting to watch on late night tv rather then just the ab-doer or magic bullet informatial

[Styler]

...the Olympics is rather like my sons 18th birthday,in that I paid for it all, I host it in my house, but I'm not invited.

Haha, love it.

[Ryan]

I know Hunters slapped a £27 rrp on the Punch Medalla d'Oro this year. Probably £10 more than they should be.

Somebody plans on making something off it.

[CaptainQuintero]

-Graham £22Billion including security costs

In other news

"While London and the world is enthralled with Olympians showing us what they worked their entire lives for, there will be distractions that take the focus away from the athletes. One individual who isn't competing in the Games but is sharing the Olympic spotlight is London-based street artist and Oscar-nominated documentarian, Banksy.

On Monday, Banksy posted photos on his website of his latest works: "Hackney Welcomes the Olympics" and "Going for Mould." Both stencils, locations unknown, are Olympic-themed and may trouble the International Olympic Committee which maintains an iron fist over Olympic branding, not to mention the British Transport Police (BTP), which have been busy arresting alleged street artists and banning them from coming within a mile of any Olympic venue.

The Guardian reported last week that the BTP had begun a pre-emptive sweep of alleged graffiti artists in preparation for the London Games. Street artists in London have also told the BBC that, "walls which they say have not been touched in years are now being cleaned off."

If and when Banksy's new pieces are found, officials may want to think twice about removing the world-renown artist's work. In March, 18 original Banksy artworks sold for over £400,000 at an auction in London. In the ever-present battle of street art vs. vandalism, Banksy's form of self expression has grown from being viewed as a criminal act into a valuable commentary on society.

Helen Bingham of Keep Britain Tidy told the BBC: "There's a difference between low-grade tagging and the work people like Banksy do … You have to look at it and know the difference - it's not a black and white thing."

[Colt45]

what a crass, ridiculous farce the olympics are. i am already completely over it.

the sooner it is over the better. could not care less. will be really pissed if they cut into coverage of any of the footy games to show this crap.

KG, it never fails to warm my heart knowing that you always look on the bright side of life, and find the goodness in humanity - it always gives me hope...

P.S. which footy are we talking about?

[Hypersomniac]

I enjoy the Olympics. It isn't very often that wrestling gets televised, so I tend to appreciate and take full advantage of the times that it does.

[El Presidente]

KG, it never fails to warm my heart knowing that you always look on the bright side of life, and find the goodness in humanity - it always gives me hope...

P.S. which footy are we talking about?

He has been cranky of late

[CanuckSARTech]

He has been cranky of late

Must be the chocolate-flavoured anal lube.

[mazolaman]

Must be the chocolate-flavoured anal lube.

Hmm, Yummy.....are there chocolate chunks in it?

Anyway...here in Finland, my wife said the other day "I would love to catch the opening ceremony"

Hmmm, not on my top things to see list, but why not.

It starts at 9pm GMT, so in Europe it's a 10pm start, and in Finland an 11pm start. Bonkers.So the most of Europe has to wait till 10 pm to see the opening ceremony, while it is held on the continent of Europe.

Why? Because the aforementioned retailers of shite fizzy stuff and burgers are demanding that it is prime time back home in their county of origin. So these sponsors are also governing the schedule.

Also, the constructed buildings are also a stitch up.

They were built with the tax payers money, but the clever sods have allowed their use afterwards to be in private hands, so therefore they will be let and profited from by private companies, while built with public money. Fact.

The IOC is similar to FIFA in my book, sadly rotten.

Anyway, I'm just bitter cos I'll miss the synchronised swimming.