The IOC's 'Clean Venue' Policy 549
Dave21212 writes "Yes folks, the International Olympic Committee's 'Brand Protection Team' will be protecting against the threat of Advertising Terrorism at the games. According to an MSNBC article, the IOC's Karen Webb states 'Our role is to protect all of our sponsor categories and actively monitor ambush activity.' Restricted items include, flags, umbrellas, shirts, hats, and bags with trademarks of rival sponsors. Unofficial brands can be confiscated and with only Coke allowed on Olympic grounds, this brings new meaning to The Pepsi Challenge!"
Athletes boycot the olympics (Score:3, Informative)
Athens 2004 Restricted Items and Actions (Score:5, Informative)
"Advertisers try vaulting over the official games marketers"
http://www.nypost.com/business/18669.htm [nypost.com] In 1996, Nike was the Cinderella of the Atlanta Olympics. Not invited to the ball, it made sure the shoe fit anyway.
The sneaker maker handed out swoosh-branded "Just Do It" signs, erected billboards and even built a makeshift sports complex -- leaving the patriotic impression that it was an official Olympic sponsor.
It wasn't. Archrival Reebok shelled out millions for bona fide sponsorship status. Nike glommed onto Olympic glory in a money-saving ploy known as ambush marketing.
"For pennies on the dollar, relative to the top sponsors, ambush marketing can be cost effective," said sports marketing expert David Carter. "Many consumers end up rather confused as to who the official Olympic sponsors are."
For what it's worth, from http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?Art Num=61113 [libertypost.org]:
Known as the "clean venue policy", the rules were drawn up by the Greeks and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to shield sponsors from so-called "ambush marketing" -- an attempt to advertise items during the games without paying sponsorship fees.
The restrictions on food and drink are intended to ensure that only items made by official sponsors such as McDonald's and two Greek dairy firms are consumed at Olympic venues.
An official familiar with the restrictions said: "We have to protect official sponsors who have paid millions to make the Olympics happen. There will be cases of individual spectators being allowed in wearing a T-shirt bearing the logo of a rival sports brand but anyone who tries to practise ambush marketing will be removed."
And the actual list:
http://www.athens2004.com/en/specAdviceRestricted [athens2004.com]
The following items and actions are restricted at Olympic Venues:
Mopeds, bicycles, skates, skateboards
Electronic equipment of Non-Rights holding Broadcasting Organisations
Flags of non-participating countries. Flags of participating countries larger than 2x1 meters, banners (larger than 1x1 meters approximately). No banner may be hung in metallic, wooden or plastic poles or frames
Horns, laser devices and other devices that cause disturbance
Flag poles, logos, open umbrellas in seating areas, items (T-shirts, hats, bags, etc.) with distinctive trademarks of companies that are competitive to those of the sponsors
Pirate "Athens 2004" products
Leaflets, pamphlets, non-approved publications, unauthorised signs and labels, printed material for publishing purposes with religious, political, provocative or obscene content
Balls, rackets, Frisbees, and similar items, a large number of coins, lighters
Musical instruments, glass bottles, flasks, iceboxes, ice-bags, thermos, water, beverages, alcoholic drinks and material, in general, of any shape or content, or any other items that ATHOC in cooperation with the Security Authorities in charge, consider to be dangerous or inappropriate
Food (except for proven medical reasons)
Animals (except service animals)
Large items, large bags, suitcases, folding seats, small stools etc. (except in certain events)
Strollers in seating areas
Smoking or gambling
Collection of money for unauthorised purposes
Use or distribution of clothing and/or any type of material with the intent of advertising, promotion, raising money or making profit through unauthorised means
Ambush marketing
Demonstrations of a political or religious nature
Unauthorised ticket sales
Unauthorised sale of food
Unauthorised entry of TV presenters and unauthorised transmission and/or videotaping through transmi
Re:But what about the spectators? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Going to Olympics is like riding with Hitler! (Score:5, Informative)
The IOC is not democratic nor accountable to anyone, and have always operated in a totally autocratic manner.
(An a less important but symbolic aside: The torch-carrying tradition was invented by Nazi Germany, who used the games held in Germany 1936 as a huge propaganda event.)
The games have also been connected to commercial interest since the start. For example, the games in 1900 and 1904 were both side-by-side with large trade fairs.
Re:Going to Olympics is like riding with Hitler! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:My Fear (Score:2, Informative)
Re:What they're trying to prevent. (Score:1, Informative)
Advertising Terrorism? Not found in articles! (Score:5, Informative)
Methinks paragon_au just put that in there to get a rise out of knee-jerk, I didn't RTFA slashdotters. No one "official" ever used the term Advertising Terrorism.
Re:Frightening (Score:4, Informative)
Personally, I have a "token" VISA card which is ONLY used when I end up at one of their "purchased" venues (accidentally), and NEVER used anywhere else.
The fact that they're proud of making these deals ("be sure to bring your VISA card because you can't use American Express"), knowing that they have paid to force me to carry extra credit cards with me, especially in these times of identity theft and credit card fraud where I'd much rather just carry one card and watch it closely, seems to me like it should be illegal.
Re:Frightening (Score:3, Informative)
WTF? You never heard of Economies of Scale?
Re:Protest by going naked! (Score:2, Informative)
I can just imagine the Christian Fundumentalists in America getting in an uproar if that tradition was continued on today.
Re:Bottles without labels? (Score:2, Informative)
An example from a long time ago, Digital Underground's song 'The Humpty Dance' has the lyric 'I once got busy in a Burger King bathroom' - when the video ran on MTV, they edited out 'Burger King' - 'I once got busy in a [silent pause] bathroom'.
You know, cause McDonald's is an MTV advertiser
Some "advertising terrorism" still gets through (Score:3, Informative)
BBC article link [bbc.co.uk].
Re:Name game (Score:1, Informative)
Except as provided in subsection (d) of this section, the corporation has the exclusive right to use -
(1)
the name ''United States Olympic Committee'';
(2)
the symbol of the International Olympic Committee, consisting of 5 interlocking rings, the symbol of the International Paralympic Committee, consisting of 3 TaiGeuks, or the symbol of the Pan-American Sports Organization, consisting of a torch surrounded by concentric rings;
(3)
the emblem of the corporation, consisting of an escutcheon having a blue chief and vertically extending red and white bars on the base with 5 interlocking rings displayed on the chief; and
(4)
the words ''Olympic'', ''Olympiad'', ''Citius Altius Fortius'', ''Paralympic'', ''Paralympiad'', ''Pan-American'', ''America Espirito Sport Fraternite'', or any combination of those words.
You need to work on your Googleskills, grasshopper (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Your homeland is not recognized as a country. (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/archives/2002/02/1 5/0000124045 [taipeitimes.com]
The above link is to an article describing incidents of Beijing officials pestering US citizens during the SLC Winter Games two years ago over display of the Taiwanese flag on private property, as well as the incident I mentioned earlier involving some friends who were detained in Atlanta for attempting to wear T-shirts bearing the Taiwanese flag at an Olympic event. From the article:
Lee Kaiwen, Taiwan