Logo Police at the Olympics
August 18th, 2008 Posted in Destination reports, Travel funnies
On Saturday the Wall Street Journal reported an odd story that seems to be a first in the history of the Olympics. Logo police workers are tasked with vigilantly going around all facilities and putting masking tape over the logos for any product where the company is not an official sponsor.
“In media centers, dormitories and arena bathrooms, pieces of tape cover logos of fire extinguishers, light switches, thermostats, bedroom night tables, soap dispensers and urinals. The Taiden Industrial translation headsets in a large conference room have had their logos covered, as have the American Standard faucets in the bathrooms nearby, and the ThyssenKrupp escalators down the hall.”
I guess you’d call this reverse product placement. If you don’t pay up to be an official sponsor, the products actually being used instantly become generics. No extra exposure just because you are the best product for the situation.
“Naturally, curious minds tend to wonder what’s under the tape. A few investigative journalists, bristling at all this control, have even removed pieces of tape.
Soon after a piece of tape is removed, however, a new one quickly appears — thanks to Chinese workers charged with tape replacement. ‘We assign workers in [the Main Press Center] to check and replace tape that has been peeled off to make sure the tape still works every day,’ says a Chinese official in charge of that work at the MPC. The official, who would give only his surname, Yang, wouldn’t say how many people are involved in that work.”
As with the Orwellian “Protest Park” where nobody actually gets a permit to protest, it’s another sign that the Chinese leaders can’t let go of their control freak tendencies. Right now they’re probably huddled in a conference room trying to figure out who gets blamed for China not winning any medals in the women’s gymnastic floor exercises.
The state sponsorship of atheletes is working out pretty well for them overall, but how about those laid-back, free life Jamaicans! “Don’t worry mon. Just run fast!”
[photos from the Wall Street Journal story.]
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