Thursday 28 June 2012

Tower Bridge Rings

Yesterday London Mayor Bouncy Boris gave the command to reveal the Olympic Rings on Tower Bridge, marking the last 30 days before the Summer Olympiad 2012 begins. I for one will be glad when this celebration of human greed will be over. There's the greed of multinational corporations that want their share of the cake, the greed of transport workers who demand bonuses for working during the games, the greed of Olympic officials trying to offload their spare tickets on the black market, the greed of firms selling fake Olympic goods, the greed of criminals setting up deceptive websites to rip off unwary punters, the greed of hoteliers and landlords doubling their rents for the games, the greed of ticket touts, the greed of purported artists flogging rubbish for the Olympic Arts Festival....

6 Comments:

At 28/6/12, Anonymous Anonymous said...

You may be glad when the Olympics and Paralympics are over, but, you have already paid for it in your Council Tax and you might as well enjoy it. Well done, Boris, for the rings on the bridge. Speaking of Tower Bridge, now that's I call a work of art.

 
At 28/6/12, Blogger Unknown said...

Enjoy all that greed. You must be joking.

 
At 30/6/12, Anonymous Anonymous said...

According to a recent news article.

Companies who have provided work for the Olympics are not allowed to claim any credit if they are not official sponsors. There is a certain amount of chagrin that this apparently applies even after the Olympics has finished.

This is a hard on artistic companies who have their talents on display - but are never to be allowed to publicise the connection.

 
At 1/7/12, Blogger Unknown said...

Thanks for your comment.

I know the Olympic brand is very jealously guarded, but I didn't realise it went to this extremme.

There must be ways around it. The BBC is using the Olympic rings on its website. The creators of the Olympic torch have received loads of publicity. So has the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. Royal Mail has used the Olympic logo on sets of stamps. And I saw a TV programme on the work behind that ghastly Orbital Tower. I can't believe all these organisations are official sponsors.

 
At 1/7/12, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can't find the original online article. However there are numerous declarations of the myriad of terms (like "Olympics" and "2012") that LOCOG regard as their legal property.

This suppliers' "marketing protocol" guide is probably the nub of it. See "Background and Purpose of Protocol" sections b)and c)
http://www.london2012.com/mm/Document/Publications/StategiesPolicy/01/25/45/23/L2012SuppliersNoMarketingRightsProtocolpublishedSept10_Neutral.pdf

 
At 1/7/12, Blogger Unknown said...

Thanks for the pdf link. I've cut it down to size with TinyURL.com and it works:
http://tinyurl.com/7nwbwky
Need a lawyer to find the holes in it, but they must be there. Maybe you need to get a BBC story written about your firm. Or the local paper. Just don't mention the Olympics, except in a whisper. Then it's the reporter's fault if he mentions it.
My local rag, the Ilford Recorder, has been full of Olympics goings on for yonks. A local nature group removed a load of protected newts from an area earmarked for an Olympic site. Good story.

 

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