London Olympics 2012

[griller 9]

It's not all about the logos and money, it's all about the sport!!

 

[big-will 7]

In similar kind of thing

 

The great London 2012 Olympic chip embargo has cracked. No longer will hungry workers at the games be denied pie and chips, chicken and chips or even just chips because of a monopoly enforced by McDonald's, a major sponsor.

On Wednesday, the London Organising Committee responded to plaintive cries of caterers who had grown tired of receiving "grief" from chip-hungry staff working on the opening and closing ceremonies and allowed chips to be served outside branches of the fast food chain McDonald's.

 

It all results from one of the stranger twists of Olympic planning. McDonald's sponsorship deal included the exclusive right to sell chips in and around Olympic venues. Other caterers had negotiated special rights to serve chips with fish – but not chips on their own, or with anything else.

Cue frustrated scenes at the lunch counter in the ceremonies catering area where staff were toiling over the staging for Danny Boyle's 27 July opening extravaganza. "Please understand this is not the decision of the staff who are serving up your meals who, given the choice, would gladly give it to you, however they are not allowed to," read a notice pinned up by staff. "Please do not give the staff grief, this will only lead to us removing fish and chips completely."

"It's sorted," said a spokesman for Locog. "We have spoken to McDonald's about it."

But the embargo will hold in other areas. That means no chips with anything other than fish anywhere else in the park unless spectators dine at McDonald's.

On Wednesday catering staff in the media centre were taking no risks. There were hash browns and dauphinoise, but no chips. A server explained why: "Because McDonald's own the rights, so we're not allowed to".

 

At least they are encouraging people to eat healthy McDonalds.

Good for sports enthusiasts

[Tubby Beaver 209]

AND they can then wash it down with a gallon of the other big sponsors health drink, good ole nutritious Coca Cola

[RobBright 35]

Aren't VISA or MasterCard doing something similar or was that a different olympics?

[surfarthur 22]

Aren't VISA or MasterCard doing something similar or was that a different olympics?

 

You mean like this?

 

It's not all about the logos and money, it's all about the sport!!

 

[oo 1]

Apparently, even tiny companies elsewhere in the country aren't allowed to mention the Olympics for fear of some legal action against them.

Sounds ridiculous the lengths to which the big sponsors have control.

Hard not to be cynical,

[grungy-gonads 54]

Yes the grannies who knitted a doll wearing an Olympic rings 'logo' for charity apparently even got into trouble.

 

[norcal 5]

Almost time for the Olympics...and while I like all of you guys...........

 

 

USA!! USA!! USA!!

 

[griller 9]

It's ok norcal.

 

Just to check - you don't chant it in that "lobotomised" kind of way, do you?

[Metabo Oyaji 71]

They have their own olympic team?

 

[xxx 2]

let's safe driving for good travels!

[BagOfCrisps 24]

Lots of the scum media seem to almost wish for a fail.

It's one of the things I really do not like about our 'modern society'.

Where did that come from?

 

I hope it is a good success.

I just kind of wish it was over as it's causing me some troubles while it's on here in London.

[pie-eater 207]

Ah the Olympic (© MacDonalds) spirit (© Heineken)

 

Hundreds of uniformed Olympics officers will begin touring the country today enforcing sponsors' multimillion-pound marketing deals, in a highly organised mission that contrasts with the scramble to find enough staff to secure Olympic sites.

 

Almost 300 enforcement officers will be seen across the country checking firms to ensure they are not staging "ambush marketing" or illegally associating themselves with the Games at the expense of official sponsors such as Adidas, McDonald's, Coca-Cola and BP. The clampdown goes on while 3,500 soldiers on leave are brought in to bail out the security firm G4S which admitted it could not supply the numbers of security staff it had promised.

Yesterday, the Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, refused to rule out that even more soldiers may be called upon to help with security, but dismissed the issue as merely a "hitch". However, as well as the regular Army, the Olympic "brand army" will start its work with a vengeance today.

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."

[Metabo Oyaji 71]

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".

 

 

Glad I'm not a shop owner in London trying to sell jewelry or summer wear!

[grungy-gonads 54]

Boggles the mind doesn't it.

[BagOfCrisps 24]

They have their own olympic team?

 

 

Are they supporting the US of A?

[charlotte 0]

They probably are. After Japan of course. I remember a similar kind of story during the World Cup but can't quite remember.

I quite like the Japanese way of almost innocently supporting their people and not going down the miserable bad-mouthing route that other societies seem to enjoy more and more.

[brit-gob 9]

Always good to hear that the important things are being dealt with.

 

--

 

London 2012 Olympics: Bakers should be allowed to display Olympic themed products, says Hugh Robertson

 

High street bakers and other small shop owners which display Olympics-themed products should not be prosecuted for breaching the strict copyright rules which surround the Games, the Government has said.

 

Hugh Robertson, the Olympics minister, said he did not want council trading standards officers to punish small retailers like bakers who might cook Olympic themed buns or cakes to mark the Games.

 

There have been concerns fears that trading standards rules are applying strict licensing rules too strictly.

 

In May, a florist in Stoke was told to take down five rings and a torch, all made from tissue paper, because they were an ‘unauthorised use’ of the Olympic logo.

 

Last year cake shop owners who wanted to depict the 2012 games logos in icing and marzipan at an Olympic-themed annual festival organised by the British Sugarcraft Guild dropped their plans in the face of court proceedings.

 

A butcher in Dorset also had to remove some sausage rings which resembled the Games' logo.

 

Mr Robertson made his plea for a sense of proportion from enforcmeent officers at an Olympic press conference in Westminster. Asked if he wanted to see prosecutions for bakers and small shop owner who marked the Games by displaying their own products, Mr Robertson said: “No.”

 

He added: “I gave the commitment in Parliament when the Act came through that this would be carried out in a sensible and proportionate way and I stick by that.

 

“I don’t say things that I don’t want to see. You can only decide on a case by case basis – no one has been prosecuted yet.”

 

Nearly 300 Olympic ‘enforcement officers’ are due to start patrolling around venues nationwide from next week to ensure traders are not illegally associating themselves with the Games.

 

The trading standards officers, who will wear the same purple uniforms as volunteers, will be checking Olympic ‘event zones’ all over the country to make sure sellers comply with strict trading and advertising rules.

 

Under special laws, trading standards officers have the power to enter shops of anyone they suspect of flouting the rules and threaten fines of up to £20,000.

 

Pub owners have also been warned that blackboards promoting live TV coverage must not refer to brewers without an Olympics deal. Caterers and restaurateurs have been told not to advertise dishes that could be construed as having an association with the event.

 

Earlier this year grandmother Joy Tomkins, 81, was prevented from entering a doll with a hand-knitted ‘GB 2012’ outfit into a church fundraising sale. The doll, which was due to be sold for £1 in May, was found to have breached the rules.

[pie-eater 207]

That grandmother in particular really did need to be brought into line though, don't you think?

 

[2pints-mate 0]

They are world champions and brought hope to a nation reeling from a natural disaster, but Japan's female Olympic footballers had to make do with economy class seats during their gruelling flight to Europe this week, while the less celebrated men's team relaxed in business class.

 

The issue surrounding "Nadeshiko Japan", who lifted the women's world cup in Germany last summer, began soon after they arrived in Paris on a Japan Airlines flight from Tokyo.

 

"I guess it should have been the other way around," Homare Sawa , the team's star player, told Japanese media. "Even just in terms of age, we are senior," she joked.

 

The team are due to play a warm-up match against France on Thursday before flying to London. Their first Olympic match is against Canada, in Coventry, on 25 July, in a group that also includes Sweden and South Africa.

 

Sawa, 33, who will be taking part in her fourth Olympics, noted that the team had been awarded business class seats after they won the world cup in Germany last July.

[2pints-mate 0]

I hear Germans having a laugh daily mail style at the London Olympics.

 

When was their last one, Munich? Big success was it?

[NoFakie 45]

The Irish National Team used to fly economy until Keano complained. It was part of the previous before he went off on one in Saipan before the Japan WC.

[NoFakie 45]

I hear Germans having a laugh daily mail style at the London Olympics.

 

When was their last one, Munich? Big success was it?

 

We should have a Lancaster bomber fly over during the opening ceremony.

They had one for the royal wedding, so there's still one that works.

Our own Daily Mail would be well into it.

[grungy-gonads 54]

 

Perhaps that is the plane that James Bond will come in on in the opening celery.

[NoFakie 45]

That also answers who to light the Olympic flame - Geoff Hurst!

 

(if still alive)