[Closed] Olympic sadness

What a poorly written article.

Somebody at LOCOG needs a kicking for agreeing to that part of their contract requirements!

Newsnight t'other night was amusing, watching one of the LOCOG bosses defending being in bed with McDonalds/Coke/Pizza Hut, etc
Basically he said they'd love to only partner with "healthy" food companies but they rarely t come forward for taking the sponsorship & if they do they can't afford it - the games needs so much commercial sponsorship they're forced into a corner and have to take it basically.

<snip>

The whole thing is and will be bloody horrible.

Yep, it stinks.

I won't be buying anything the sponsors sell for a long time

Coke, Pizza Hut, MccDonalds stuff anyway.

Hardly athlete food is it.

I have gone through the Locog document for compliance to supply (about 40 pages) for a customer.

It's all worthy objectives (organic this, eco that), followed by a paragraph that says 'unless you cant be bothered'. What a waste of time.

It's all corporate cobblers, wrapped up as a big school sports day. Horrible.

I think that story sums up the true olympic spirit

Now we know the real reason for the (Mc)Missiles on the roof

surely they sell french fries so chips should be fine?

Now we know the real reason for the (Mc)Missiles on the roof

I'm lovin' it.

McDonald's sponsorship deal included the exclusive right to sell chips in and around Olympic venues

Never mind. You can just ignore it and let those millions who are going to enjoy the Olympics enjoy them.

Enjoy your whining, though. Must be fun!

perhaps other outlets could sell

" Deep Fried Potato Wedges "

which just happen to look similar to chips 8)

Either way I'll be enjoying the games without " Fries "

Roll on 27 July 😀

Not so much sadness, more anger at the whole farcicle spectacle.

It's only an Egg and Spoon race ffs!

I'll just have to ignore the UK media until the whole thing is over. How many days until the olympics/paralympics are over?

You've got to be honest about this though, does anyone think they're going to watch the 100 metres final, then be suddenly and inexplicably overcome with an overwhelming desire for a Big Mac washed down with a large Coke?

No? Didn't think so. Me neither

So just take their money. Means we pay less for the glorified sports day.
And anyway... any goodwill the 'Olympic Partners' might have received will be more than wiped out by the 'Cafe owner Jim McDonald was forced to change his name by the multinational Burger behemoth' stories instigated by their utterly clueless legal departments

so flashy you don't accept that the fine institution of the olympics has been marred by capitulating to sponsors and has been turned into a corporate adfest?

It was never a fine institution, having been corporately tainted for many a year.

A new one which surprised me (in another Guardian article I can't be bothered finding):

There are about 7,500 UK companies involved in providing things for the Olympics, so you'd think it'd be a perfect opportunity to promote UK products to the world, right? No - they're not allowed to mention their involvement in the Olympics, and their employees aren't even allowed to mention it on social networks, for 12 years.

ans we pay less for the glorified sports day.

10% of funding comes from sponsorship, 90% comes from the taxpayer. I'd have been happy to spend 10% more, or have 10% less flashiness, and be rid of the sponsors - it'd actually have been a games for the people if that had been done, but instead we're getting a massive branding exercise with a little bit of sport thrown in.

Donk. The Olympic Comittee, along with FIFA, UEFA et al, exist in offshore tax bubbles purely as a huge, totally unaccountable, money churning machine. They're a totally corrupt organisation who exist purely for the purpose of ringing huge quantities of money out of countries and corporate sponsors, to backhand to themselves

It hasn't the remotest thing to do with 'sporting excellence' or whatever guff they're presently spouting. Its about generating cash to fund their opulent, jet-setting lifestyles. Full stop. Mainly from idiototic glory-hunting politicians with the keys to the public purse.

TBH never been a massive fan of the olympics, sport is generally for doing not watching in my book but I did recognise that the olympics was the pinnacle of most sports and was generally happy about it getting so many people getting interested in sport and I did take a bit of interest in some events.

Maybe all the sponsor lockdown and all the other gritty truths we are learning about have been around for years and I'm only noticing it now we're the hosts. Definitely taken the lustre off the olympics for me.

so flashy you don't accept that the fine institution of the olympics has been marred by capitulating to sponsors and has been turned into a corporate adfest?

sport is generally for doing not watching in my book

surely they sell french fries so chips should be fine?

but french fries are gay. proper chips, as thick as your thumb are where it's at!!!!

go on what did kerry packer do to cricket? He's got a wiki page but I'm sure it will be more amusing reading about it on here 🙂

It's hard to separate the efforts and commitment of the participants who are worthy of our support, from the corporate whoring of the entire event to some the least athletically orientated institutions on the high street.

I shall enjoy not purchasing anything from their franchises while I am watching & supporting Team GB Hockey. We will be having a huge breakfast, a bag of fruit and cereal bars for the day, and then a big BBQ back at the campsite. I'd rather be a bit peckish than give money to any of the headline sponsors.

😀

just dont mention what kerry packer did to cricket though

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

😉

so no answer to the olympics not being the quite shiny beacon of amateur sport it once was* then CFH?

*or might have been, maybe I'm getting all rose tinted specs in my old age

It hasn't been amateur for ages, but it's still about sport.

It hasn't been amateur for ages

but it's still about sport

I know there's an olympic bashing bandwagon which I've taken part in in the past but i think there's some valid concerns in there along with the general british grumpiness.

I'm glad that some people are able to see past the massive commercial side to the games and enjoy it for what it is.

For me personally, the whole thing stinks. The amount of tax payer money being spent, the 'them and us' mentality to ticketing and more so than anything - the sponsoring by Coke/Mcfilth/whoever of what should be a celebration of health and fitness is a joke. The whole thing makes me massively angry that the general public can't see the farce that the Olympic games is

Are little Thief sponsoring?

Does that mean the "Olympic Breakfast is now "banned" 🙁
[img] [/img]

What a crock of...

Daley Thompson banned from promoting Little Chef's Olympic Breakfast
2nd September 2007, 09:24

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

Its combination of fried bread, bacon and saute potatoes is unlikely to make Little Chef's Olympic Breakfast first choice for most athletes.

But when organisers of the 2012 London Games objected to a proposed advertisement for the giant feast, they were not worried about the nation's health.

Instead, they were more [b]concerned about protecting the investment of fast-food chain McDonald's - sponsors of the capital's sporting showpiece.[/b]

The extraordinary twist came when Little Chef contacted London 2012 to discuss using double Olympic gold medal winner Daley Thompson to plug their breakfast on its 20th anniversary.

Event bosses said the former decathlete's voice could only be used for the radio advert next year if his identity was kept secret.

And they [b]suggested that if the roadside diner chain really wanted to help the Olympic cause they could drop the Olympic Breakfast name altogether.[/b]

London 2012 can lay down the condition because it is backed by two recent acts of Parliament outlawing the use of the Games and its symbols without permission.

Little Chef marketing man Richard Hillgrove, who contacted London 2012, said: [b]"We were very surprised by their stance. Little Chef has always been able to use the Olympic name. To be told it would be better if we dropped it is very odd.[/b]

"We wanted to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Olympic Breakfast and thought of Daley because he is known to be a big fan of it himself.

"It's just plain weird to say he can do the advert as long as no one knows he's doing it. And it's a shame the London 2012 games can't support British firms more."

All Little Chef's 196 diners serve the Olympic Breakfast, which gets its name because it takes an Olympian effort to finish it. Apart from Daley - who won gold at the 1980 Moscow Games and in Los Angeles four years later - well-known fans include Prince Harry, model Lisa B and actor Robson Green.

For £6.99, those willing to take it on get two rashers of crisp back bacon, a British outdoor-reared pork sausage, two griddled eggs, whole cup mushrooms, crispy saute potatoes, fresh griddled tomato, Heinz baked beans and toasted or fried extra-thick bloomer bread.

The chain had considered Olympic greats such as Kelly Holmes or Colin Jackson before offering Daley £30,000 for the voice work. But their plan has fallen foul of the London Olympics Act 2005, which followed a 1995 Act giving the British Olympics Association power to stop 'ambush marketing'.

[b]The new Act makes it a criminal offence, punishable by a £20,000 fine, to advertise using the Olympics without permission. Police can seize goods such as advertising material and charge for their time.[/b] 🙄

Advertisers risk prosecution and being sued if they use words such as 'summer', 'games' and '2012'.

However, a loophole means Little Chef can use the Olympic Breakfast brand as it was in use before the first Act came into effect. But using an Olympian for advertising it is banned.

The chain is reconsidering its options after receiving a letter from London 2012 legal manager Alex Kelham last week. She told Little Chef: "If the voice is introduced as an Olympian, or is distinctive enough to be recognisable as such, The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games is likely to object to this."

She added: "The International Olympic Committee has appointed McDonald's as a worldwide partner. McDonald's has exclusive rights to associate its brand with the Olympic Games to the exclusion of competitors." 😡

London 2012 said: "We need to raise £2billion to make the Olympic Games the best ever. This money is all privately raised by selling sponsorship, tickets and official merchandise.

"The value of the London 2012 brand, the Olympic symbol and the right to associate with the Games is, therefore, crucial to our funding. [b]We have to protect our sponsors' interests. We have asked Little Chef to reconsider using Olympic terminology."[/b] Hope LC told them to run hither...

Source
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/a...ast/article.do

They can only sell chips if it's with fish. That's really helpful for us vegetarians. "Fish and chips, please, without the fish."

Oh FFS you are one of those Veggies 🙄

a British outdoor-reared pork sausage

Indeed.

Annoying thing is, it was always a good fallback position. If there's nothing I can eat then I can at least graze on a few chips to tide me over.

It is the vegan default option as well

10% of funding comes from sponsorship, 90% comes from the taxpayer. I'd have been happy to spend 10% more, or have 10% less flashiness, and be rid of the sponsors

The triumph of corporate [s]greed[/s] sponsorships over normal lives.

hmmm.. sausages

Maybe all the sponsor lockdown and all the other gritty truths we are learning about have been around for years and I'm only noticing it now we're the hosts. Definitely taken the lustre off the olympics for me.

I read somewhere that these are the most commercially restrictive games yet. one more is that Visa, another sponsor, are closing the non Visa cash points in the olympic village and making Visa machines the ly ones available

I read somewhere that these are the most commercially restrictive games yet. one more is that Visa, another sponsor, are closing the non Visa cash points in the olympic village and making Visa machines the ly ones available

If I recall, you could only buy tickets with a visa card too, other credit cards weren't accepted

How about just ignoring them?

Just a thought, like....

The [s]french[/s] Parisians must be pissing themselves!

The company I used to work for had a contract with Mac D's for Building works. I remember seeing a set of plans for the main "restaurant" and it's a temporary structure with a seating capacity of iirc 1500. There will be many more smaller outlets around the site too.

What gets me is that the past few Olympics have been sited on land that needs redevelopment in the host city.

Both Sydney and Athens have these sporting areas which are generally under used and become a dead spot for a city. Also who is going to pay for the up keep of the site once the games are over? The local council won't be able to cover it all and if the housing stock that has been built is predominately for those in need of subsidised housing, the revenue raised by council tax isn't likely to go far.

It's ideal to keep all the sporting activities in one area for a commercial point of view but if you need a ticket to enter each event then why don't the games spread out across the country? and show case the best the country has to offer. Can you imagine.. TV guy right we'll be crossing over to the Yorkshire Moors to watch the Shooting or to Nottingham Forest for the Archery.

A friend of mine was in the U.S.A and he was asked by a young women; "so how far away is London from England?" Now she could be stupid but I think there is a greater need to sell the whole country not just a small section of the Capitol that everyone knows.

I'm not a massive fan of track and field sports but I can appreciate the efforts the athletes have put in to get there and well done to them. It's a shame that the politics and corporate nonsense is over shadowing their efforts.