Olympic Brand Police Go Bonkers

Andrew Goldstone has just tweeted the following:

"Brand name taped over on hand dryers in gents at canoe slalom. Corporate sponsor policing gone mad. BTW everyone, they're made by Elliott. "

Therefore folks you know what to do the next time that you have a "modular space" issue, go out and hire Elliott just to annoy the brand police!

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Olympic Insurrection - Number 10 Joins The Insurrection

Number 10 Downing Street has joined the Olympics insurrection, and has knowingly breached the rules relating to the use and display of the Olympics rings.

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Olympic Insurrection

I am amused and pleased to see that there is a public insurrection taking place against the Olympics; specifically against the restrictions being imposed, by those who are making money out of the games, on the use by others of the Olympic rings.

People are now openly defying the ban on using the rings; eg Old Holborn, Dave Letorey and Mayfair Kingsize have changed their Twitter avatars to the Olympic rings, technically making them criminals:

"I have changed my avatar. I am now a CRIMINAL"

Special mention to Tent101 who has changed avatar and come up with the excellent tag line #FuckTheOlympics

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Sponsorship Stupidity - The True Olympic's Spirit

The paranoia of Olympics sponsors (when it comes to protecting their "investment" in the London Olympics) knows no bounds.

Last month I wrote:

"There seems to be something of a hissy fit going on between the BOA and the agents of one of the sponsors of the London 2012 Olympics.

The agents of some competitors, who are sponsored by Nike, have told the BOA that athletes would be in breach of contracts if they are forced to wear Team GB’s official ”presentation outfit” which is sponsored by Adidas.

The agents have told the BOA that athletes might have to take off their shoes before mounting the presentation dais.

The BOA have hit back, and said that the rules mean that the athletes must wear the sponsor's (Adidas) footwear at all times."

The issue over footwear won't die down, the Telegraph reports that Aidan Kirkwood (a soldier injured in Afghanistan) was required to cover up the Raebok logo on his trainers with white tape when he appeared at an Olympic torch relay event this week.

There's the true "Olympic spirit" for you, money before sport or community spirit!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Ker Farking Ching!

My sympathies to Kamel Kichane, owner of Cafe Olympic in Newham, who has fallen foul of the Olympic money making machine.

Mr Kichane took advice from Newham Council, three years ago, about naming his restaurant Cafe Olympic. The council gave verbal permission for the name.

However, trading standards officers from the council are now threatening him with legal action unless he changes the name (as they claim it is an unauthorised use of the Olympic brand) at a cost of £3K.

Will the organisers of the Olympics also be pursuing other larger organisations, who use the word "Olympic" in their names, eg Olympic Airlines?

No, I thought not!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Police Powers

It seems that ZaNuLabour have given the police some quite extraordinary powers in the run up to the 2012 London Olympics. The police will be entitled to enter private homes and seize political posters during the London 2012 Olympics.

Those who break the rules could be fined up to £20K.

The powers were introduced by the Olympics Act 2006, and passed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, in theory to preserve the monopoly of official advertisers on the London 2012 site.

The powers allow advertising posters or hoardings placed in shop or home to be removed. However, as with all ZaNuLabour legislation, it has been drafted so "broadly" that it also includes 'non-commercial material' - which could include legitimate campaign literature.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Contemptuous Arrogance and Greed

In a display of arrogance and greed, the organisers of London 2012 have threatened to sue a removal company.

Their crime?

Since inception, 22 years ago, Olympic Removals have used the Olympic rings logo on its vans.

Needless to say, because the Olympics 2012 is primarily about money, those in charge of it are spoiling for a fight with anyone who has the "temerity" to infringe on the "hallowed" and "revered" "trademark" of the Olympics.

Founder/owner of Olympics Removals, Steve Tanner said:

"We are not going to be bullied. This is all about money.

It's disgusting. The Olympics used to be about more than money – the whole spirit has been lost."

Were it possible, given that the word "Olympics" is also trade marked, you can be sure that the Olympics organisers would try to charge everyone whoever used the word in speech or written form.

The Olympics is about money, not sport.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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It's The Money Stupid

Those of you who think that the Olympics is about sport should think again, read this sorry greedy little tale of how the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) tried to bully a website owner into giving up his site, simply because he had the temerity to have the number "2012" in the URL.

Matthew Parker runs a site that offers to help people find houses to rent during the 2012 Olympics in London. Unfortunately he fell fowl of LOCOG, because his URL was www.london2012rentmyhouse.com.

LOCOG claimed that because they had a trademark on "2012" Matthew should not be allowed to use it in his URL or indeed run a website that, in their view, cashed in on their revenue stream

Funny how the concept of sport has been ignored by LOCOG, isn't it?

I also wonder quite how they intend to enforce their trademark on "2012", does that mean that every time a newspaper, blog site or other media organisation uses the number "2012" they have to pay a fee?

The dispute with Matthew has lasted for five months. Matthew and LOCOG have now reached an agreement allowing the old address to be redirected to the new one.

The old web address is www.london2012rentmyhouse.com. The new one is www.londonrentmyhouse.com.

It's the money, certainly not the sport, that drives the Olympics.