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Olympic branding confusion

The chairman of London Organising Committee (Locog), Lord Coe, has suggested during Olympic games, sports fans will not be allowed in the Olympic park if they are wearing non-sponsor brands.

The former Olympic champion, Lord Coe said that people ’‘probably wouldn’t be walking in with a Pepsi T-shirt, because Coca-Cola are our sponsors, and they put millions of pounds into this project but also millions of pounds into grassroots sport and it is important to protect those sponsors.“

Under International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, as the tier one “worldwide partners”, have exclusive global marketing rights to sell their products in Olympic venues.

Other 2012 Olympic partners, such as Adidas, British Airways and Lloyds TSB all get exclusive marketing rights.

Locog had to raise £2bn through sponsorship and broadcasting rights. Lord Coe, said: “We have to protect the rights of our sponsors because they, in large part, pay for the Games.” Hundreds of trading standards officers will ensure that only Games’ sponsors and specific business are associating themselves with the Olympics.

The statement has raised eyebrows, and Locog have since said that Coe may have been confused between different rules for spectators and event staff.

A Locog spokesperson, said: “ People are free to wear any types of clothes and footwears, if they want.“

Olympic ticket-holders were sent an email last week with a list of banned items, such as alcohol, pets and vuvuzelas.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Yu-Chih Lin .