General Discussion
from today's Independent.
"Wearing purple caps and tops, the experts in trading and advertising working for the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) are heading the biggest brand protection operation staged in the UK. Under legislation specially introduced for the London Games, they have the right to enter shops and offices and bring court action with fines of up to £20,000.
Olympics organisers have warned businesses that during London 2012 their advertising should not include a list of banned words, including "gold", "silver" and "bronze", "summer", "sponsors" and "London".
Publicans have been advised that blackboards advertising live TV coverage must not refer to beer brands or brewers without an Olympics deal, while caterers and restaurateurs have been told not to advertise dishes that could be construed as having an association with the event.
At the 40 Olympics venues, 800 retailers have been banned from serving chips to avoid infringing fast-food rights secured by McDonald's.
Marina Palomba, for the McCann Worldgroup agency in London, described the rules as "the most draconian law in advance of an Olympic Games ever". The ODA and Locog (London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games) say the rules are necessary to protect brands.
"These rights are acquired by companies who invest millions of pounds to help support the staging of the Games," Locog said. "People who seek the same benefits for free – by engaging in ambush marketing or producing counterfeit goods – are effectively depriving the Games of revenue."
Some £1.4bn of the Games' £11.4bn budget comes from private sector sponsors. The International Olympic Committee's 11 global partners, including Coca-Cola, Visa and Proctor & Gamble, are contributing £700m while £700m comes from London 2012 partners, including Adidas, BT, EDF, and Lloyds TSB.
The scale of the brand enforcement squad is nonetheless likely to intensify criticism that the Olympics has become too corporate. Paul Jordan, an expert in brand protection at Bristows solicitors who advises firms on the rules, said they were almost certainly tougher than at previous Olympics. "No other brands would have people walking the streets being their eyes and ears, protecting their interests," he said.
A spokesman for the Olympic Delivery Authority, whose team of 286 enforcement officers have been seconded from 30 local councils, said it had a duty to ensure businesses were meeting the rules.
"We are using experienced local authority staff who currently enforce street trading and advertising legislation. They have all been fully trained," the spokesman said.
"Deliberate ambush offences will be dealt with using the full enforcement powers conferred on officers."
An observation.
Would I be correct in thinking that the political/economic message at the moment in this country is that the public sector is 'bad' a waste of public money and all that, whilst the private sector is deemed to be 'good', and job creating.
Hmmmm.........well now........isn't it the case that:
GS4 (private sector) has had to be bailed out by the armed forces (public sector) re security at the Olympics
and
The multibillion pound/dollar private sector companies sponsoring the Olympics (oh dear! am I allowed to use that word without their permission?) are having their interests protected by, yep, you guessed it, the public sector (local authority enforcement officers).
What a strange world we live in.
Springsteen gets the plugged pulled on him by "the noise police", now we have to watch our language because of the Olympics ....... anyone else starting to think U.K. is starting to stand for Ultimate Killjoy?
I dont give a flying toss for the olympics it might just as well been in a foreign country, from what Ive read its cost a lot of money and cock ups to the ordinary citizen who will not benefit 1 iota from it
I'm really pleased that Lynne has since had a change of heart about the Olympics (obviously I don't whether Brazilnut has changed their opinion). It was great to see the nation support the Olympians AND the heroes like the gamesmakers and armed service personnel, who all together made these last 2 weeks so memorable.
Yes we did do very well at the Olympics and our success has given the nation a huge boost in morale but whether it has given the nation any short and/or long term boost economically is still to be seen. And it was the economic aspect that I had in my mind when I responded to B'nut's posting.
and it was the economic aspect that I had in mind, but I applaud the sport of the Olympics and Team GB were brilliant and for 2weeks everybody was proud to be British lets hope it continues
I believe all previous countries holding the olympics have not got the economic returns they thaught they would.
A great morale booster, and an anti obesity drive
great,fantastic wonderful
woo ..I agree with Brazilnut and Lynne too!!!
The ONLY part of the Olympics I watched was the music final.
I have been amazed the BBC TV and ITV main news for two weeks has just been Olympics! ..guess they will find something to report on now,
Believe you me, if you missed the Opening Ceremony and coverage of the fantastic sporting events from Day 1 cycling road race to Day 15 modern pentathlon, then you certainly missed a treat. I know plenty of non-sports lovers who have been inspired by the last few weeks and months (starting with the torch relay), but obviously there will always be a few who are determined not to enjoy themselves.
