Beat the London Olympic brand police

As the final week countdown to the London 2012 Olympics is ticking down, the Olympic brand police will hit the streets out in full force! patrolling the areas outside and around the Olympic venue clamping down on any unauthorised use of words and images associated with the games.

Those fortunate to have London 2012 tickets have an exhaustive list of prohibited items to take into the stadium – enforcing sponsors' multimillion pound marketing deals. Pepsi t-shirts and wearing Nike footwear could get you banned, in order to protect official sponsors Coca-Cola and Adidas.

“The limitations on non-sponsors certainly are not helpful to local businesses hoping to capitalize on the Games,” says Jim Andrews, a senior vice president at IEG. But rules have been implemented “in the name of protecting the official sponsors,” he adds. “However, when they are perceived to be heavy-handed, they often backfire.” Other rules are created in the spirit of keeping the Games’ appearance non-commercial, “even though everyone knows that it is not the reality. It does set the Games apart from almost all other sports events, though, and does add to the Olympic mystique.”

BANNED FROM THE GAMES 

Oversized hats 

Balls, rackets, frisbees
Large flags and banners
Clothing with political statements or commercial signage
Noisemakers
Large golf-style umbrellas
Long-lens cameras and tripods
Excessive amounts of food
Liquids greater than 100ml

It's great to see some have taken a more creative and radical approach with bypassing the rules while some have created new rebellious campaigns mocking the brand police!

1. Banksy unveils new pieces commenting on the Olympics 

2. Witty souvenir tote bags designed by Hackney based illustrator Toby Leigh at ThatBigEventInLondon.co.uk

3.  House Cafe and Gallery, in Camberwell. 

4.  Illegal Olympic billboard spotted in Victoria Park London. 

For those tourists worried about travel and getting around London fromatob.com is a nifty search engine providing the fastest and cheapest connection for your journey. 

The Olympics, and indeed no sports events in modern times are just about sports, but seem to be sadly about corporate greed at its' finest . The sportsmen and women are becoming secondary at best. I wont let this dampen my enthusiasm for the games and the Olympic spirit, hopefully the same applies to you readers too!