Olympic branding to the extremes
A month has passed with no posts written. Apologies, I'm not with it.
Before I got my current job, I had already signed up to work at the London Olympics for a couple of weeks so I was kindly allowed to take this time off. I worked at the Wimbledon tennis, waitressing for stuck up, preppy, business people who had paid over a grand for tiny portions of poor quality food. I have been in the waitressing industry on and off since I was 15, but obviously had forgotten the horrid feeling of being treated like a servant; especially when one man held out his glass for me to top up without even looking at or thanking me. I remember thinking, as I was standing behind him with this huge bottle lingering over his head, why have I come back to this? Even for two weeks?!
Anyway, when I worked there, I saw the bar was serving something called 'No.1 Fruit Cup' - I thought, "that's odd", and got on with my life. Only much later in my time there did I realise it was actually Pimms. Someone told me that it was because of the branding regulations and that Pimms was not an official sponsor of the Olympics.
I then started noticing all these weird things. You know like when someone tells you a word that you have never heard in your life, and then the next day someone says it? It was like that. I noticed all the shops where I live had abstract Olympic squares instead of circles. Some shops said 'Lnodno 1202 Oylmicps'. I saw people on TV using their laptops but with stickers over the labels. I understand the branding laws and why they are in place; you can't not sponsor the Olympics and have your company advertised to the world, and those companies that did pay millions towards the games deserve to have exclusive rights. I'm just glad that having armed police around didn't squash the spirit of the supporters and they found other ways to show their patriotism and have fun with it. It's meant to be fun!
I found this image from the front of spoof magazine 'Private Eye' which made me laugh. Coke was an official sponsor...
Before I got my current job, I had already signed up to work at the London Olympics for a couple of weeks so I was kindly allowed to take this time off. I worked at the Wimbledon tennis, waitressing for stuck up, preppy, business people who had paid over a grand for tiny portions of poor quality food. I have been in the waitressing industry on and off since I was 15, but obviously had forgotten the horrid feeling of being treated like a servant; especially when one man held out his glass for me to top up without even looking at or thanking me. I remember thinking, as I was standing behind him with this huge bottle lingering over his head, why have I come back to this? Even for two weeks?!
Anyway, when I worked there, I saw the bar was serving something called 'No.1 Fruit Cup' - I thought, "that's odd", and got on with my life. Only much later in my time there did I realise it was actually Pimms. Someone told me that it was because of the branding regulations and that Pimms was not an official sponsor of the Olympics.
I then started noticing all these weird things. You know like when someone tells you a word that you have never heard in your life, and then the next day someone says it? It was like that. I noticed all the shops where I live had abstract Olympic squares instead of circles. Some shops said 'Lnodno 1202 Oylmicps'. I saw people on TV using their laptops but with stickers over the labels. I understand the branding laws and why they are in place; you can't not sponsor the Olympics and have your company advertised to the world, and those companies that did pay millions towards the games deserve to have exclusive rights. I'm just glad that having armed police around didn't squash the spirit of the supporters and they found other ways to show their patriotism and have fun with it. It's meant to be fun!
I found this image from the front of spoof magazine 'Private Eye' which made me laugh. Coke was an official sponsor...
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