to think the Olympics have no right to ban the words "summer" and "London"?!!

[motherofallhangovers]

"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"." source.

And they're actually going to police this!

"Almost 300 enforcement officers will be seen across the country checking firms to ensure they are not ... illegally associating themselves with the Games"

WTF?! I feel like I've just wandered onto the set of the satire "Twenty-twelve", it's so farcical.

But no, this is real!

Hi All,

Since I found the link to the Independent article via this thread, I hope the Mums at Mumsnet won't me posting a link to my own comments on the entire farce.

thevoluptuousmanifesto.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/grumbling-for-britain.html

Kind regards, All.

Amanda Kendal

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that part of my Council Tax as a Londoner was Olympics bound? So not entirely true that it's all funded by the private sector.

In support of Solopower, here is an interesting link

The Great Olympic Tax Swindle

McDonalds and Coca Cola have now backed down after petitioning and agreed to pay their tax, btw

If I name change to Albertolympicgoldsilverbronzeswearengen2012. Do you think they'll come after me? Will you all chip in £1 each to pay the fine.

Surely as the amount of tax that has gone in to this and the fact that lottery money was diverted from many good causes (lots sport related some of which had to close because of funding shortages) we should all be allowed to say whatever we like. (Looks like it won't be just those of us who live nowhere near London that will get no benefit from this.)

What a great impression this is giving - bet communist Russia had less rules.

Twenty Twelve will now be known as a documentary although they were less sinister.

The thing that pisses me off is that they'll actually be paying people god knows how much to be going round checking. Why are they so insistent on wasting our money??

There will be some sort of backlash against this. What if people banned any conversation to do with the Olympics in their houses, banned any Olympics on TV in their house. Honestly, it is getting crazier by the hour. I'm glad I didn't apply for tickets.

Its not just the Olympics that protect their brand fiercely.. try and use the breast cancer ribbon without authorisation and you will receive a swift solicitors letter... same with Wimbledon, major football clubs etc.

Its media that is making a big deal of it for the Olympics.

All big events receive sponsorship, its the way these things work.

Yes, of course all big events use sponsorship, that in itself, is fine.

But people all over the country are having their wages frozen, and welfare aid cut and we are in a massive economic downturn.

It's one thing to have a huge National Event , where we can all swell with pride as we watch a display of world class sport, but quite another when we learn that the corporate sponsors are taking all their profits back out of the country and not giving anything back, there is transport chaos for those unfortunate to have to commute into London, people are being priced out of their homes for the duration of the games, while we are simultaneously threatened with the word police.

Marvellous!

Wimbledon is a HUGE event full of sponsorship
but they let you take umbrellas, picnics, drinks, your own choice of clothes, payment cards or footwear.

The IOC has just let LOCOG kill the goose that laid their golden eggs.
Whoops.
Tee hee.

So how does it work? If the little old lady refused to take her knitted bear off sale would the purple people have had her arrested?

I think it must depend on how things are brought to their attention. Or not. Because over 20 of us wore the (almost certainly slightly iffy) items that I produced yesterday, for yesterday. So far the Olympic Police have not knocked on any doors.

I hear bloody McDonald's have won the right that no other food provider at the Games can provide CHIPS! Unless it is strictly as fish&chips!

Thanks for posting that, Soul2Soul. Btw 38 degrees have a petition to get the sponsors to pay their taxes which we can sign online.

It's crazy, isn't it, that these huge companies are exempt? What on earth is that all about? I thought the govt were anxious to persuade us how we'll all benefit from the games, and I was thinking, well, at least some of the sponsors' profits will go back into the pot as taxes. But no, not a bit of it. Makes me very .

So how, exactly, are ordinary people going to benefit? Especially those unfortunates who live in the area?

they backed down on that when goujon, sausage and chips appeared on everybody else's menus
and their chips are not potato anyway
it WAS true but isn't now

It's grotesque. And stupid. It has all the finesse of the playground bully.

Just thinking about it makes me feel cross and queasy. I truly hope all Brits will honour their fighting spirit and buy no taste-free Euro-lager, no MacDonald's, no souvenirs of any description. I hope every single company in the UK freely uses the forbidden words in their adverts in an I am Spartacus moment of solidarity.

Gross moral plankitude.

Ooh, I like the sound of an "I am Spartacus' show of solidarity

Wear 2 T shirts
one Anodyne
one inflamatory underneath

we took brownies away a few months ago and wanted to use an olympic theme but were well warned about using any of the olympic phrases, using the logo etc

One of the guiders wrote to seb coe to say surely its a good way to get kids interested in the olympics and sports in general ...

she got a snotty letter back (presumably not written by him personally) threatening legal action if she used any of the phrases or symbols ... theme for the event had to be mini games...

DH has been doing an "Olympic" rather than "Olympics" thingy all year. Schools excited about his visits have had to make sure they did not use the rings in their newsletter. So, so sad and discouraging.

frasersmummy that's so sad. One of the whole points of the Olympics is that it's supposed to promote sport in general. That ideal has been totally lost then.

I really find it hard to comprehend how anyone would think that banning a Brownie's troupe from celebrating the Olympics is a good idea. Do they really think people won't buy tickets for the Olympics because they're going to see the Brownies instead?!

It's totally farcical. If this had been in a sketch show 10 years ago (or last year even!) people would have laughed but thought it too silly to ever be true.

Think I might have an Olympic-themed summer party for my 3yo just to prove a point! Let them sue me, bring it on!!

More shambolic Olympic wank then.

Who'd have thought it?

The word police are to be seconded from our local councils. So we'll all be paying for them to enforce this 1984 style crap.

Every preschool, daycare nursery, childminder, nanny, school in our area has been making Olympic torches, Olympic rings, renaming Sports day to The Olympics, manufacturing gold, silver and bronze medals... the list goes on.

Arts and Crafts outlets are selling Olympics-themed crafts; there have been Olympics themed activity ideas in the Education media for months.

Are the Purple People-Eaters planning to arrest the lot of us?!

There is a special Brownie Olympic challenge, I know because my DD has done it and I now have the awkward badges to sew on. So surely your Brownies could have used that challenge as their theme perfectly okay?

I'm not a fan of the Os anyway but I had a grudging respect for the ideal of encouraging young people into sport. How the hell is that going to happen if no one can associate themselves with it.

I loved the jubilee earlier in the year. It brought us all together and we had a great street party. The UK throws a decent party when it wants. The Oypc could at least have had that country in unity feel to it. Now it is just going to be .

Hah, * gone wrong! Oops.