dreaminghope: (Giggle)
dreaminghope ([personal profile] dreaminghope) wrote2010-02-23 09:19 pm

This is not an Olympic ad

We wish to offer our congratulations and support to all Canadian athletes, especially those participating in an international cold-weather-sports competition on the west coast in the year between 2009 and 2011.

If you aren't an official sponsor, you can't say "Olympics". You can't say "Vancouver 2010". You definitely can't use the Olympic rings, and using the rings' colours is risky.

Those who've never lived under the rule of the IOC (International Olympic Committee) may not know what goes into protecting the Olympic brand. It's quite the process to prevent ambush marketing, including demanding family restaurants change their names (sorry, Olympia Pizza), forcing banks to take down pro-Canada ads (naughty Scotiabank), and accidentally creating strange new alliances (what do Roots and MasterCard have in common except that they both aren't Olympic sponsors?).

This has led to a new hobby of mine: spotting the "not-Olympic" ads. That consists of carefully scrutinizing the ad for the official marks that mean it's an approved ad, then squealing "it's not an Olympic ad!" and making Russ take a picture of it.

Sears welcomes the world... for no reason at all. I haven't got a picture of it (yet), but Shell Gas also welcomes the world, also for no reason at all.












Scotiabank was forced to remove the phrase "Show Your Colours" from their posters, but they were allowed to keep their expression of "random" patriotism.











(Left) Despite their claims to the contrary, Lulumon's "Cool Sporting Event That Takes Place in British Columbia Between 2009 & 2011" clothing line seems like a big "Take That" to the IOC after Lululemon lost their bid to become the official clothing outfitter of the Canadian Olympic team from 2006 to 2012 to HBC.



(Right) Waves Coffee... I wonder what that could that be a reference to?










This one's my favourite, though. In case it's too small, it reads: "Welcome to Vancouver, a world class city. We wish all athletes successful performance in their pursuit of golden dreams."



After taking the picture, we noticed something odd. The ad had been modified with flaps pasted on the original banner. We could make out the original ad from the back:



"Welcome to Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games. We wish all athletes successful performance in their pursuit of Olympics Dreams."

Well, can't have that! After all, this is not an Olympic ad.

[identity profile] circesbed.livejournal.com 2010-02-24 05:43 am (UTC)(link)
You are my new hero.

I really could have used you during my Snow Shovel Score Card game.

Btw, do you have the link to my non-LJ blog since I don't use LJ to blog anymore?

[identity profile] dreamhope.livejournal.com 2010-02-24 05:52 am (UTC)(link)
Glad to entertain!

No, I don't think I have a link to your other blog, but I'd love to.

[identity profile] cooan.livejournal.com 2010-02-24 06:43 am (UTC)(link)
Love this entry!

B and I were both very pleased when Olympia pizza gave IOC/VANOC the big middle finger and the latter group(s) eventually just fizzled out on the fight. (When I went past a week or so ago it was still Olympia and still had their rings!)

There's a (luggage?) store at Commercial & Broadway that has Olympic rings... of sorts. They're not linked and stacked in a funny formation. ;)

Sort of:

 O
OOO
 O

If I get down that way, I will take a picture for you.

[identity profile] dreamhope.livejournal.com 2010-02-25 02:58 am (UTC)(link)
I would love to see that display! I'm shocked that they got away with it.

[identity profile] cooan.livejournal.com 2010-02-25 06:49 am (UTC)(link)
I totally lied. It's Broadway & Kingsway, hehe. My brain is so dead I can't even remember my bus route, apparently. I remembered this while lying in bed last night! On the north-west side of the intersection!

[identity profile] cinnamonsqueak.livejournal.com 2010-02-26 02:43 am (UTC)(link)
i can get a pic of it probably as im there every day :)

We got our spring jackets in. we generally have a theme of a blue, green and pink tone... this year our colours are VERY VERY close to the olympic colours. (the ones that aren't the ring colours, but the aqua and lime they use for otehr stuff)

I'm scared to put them out on the floor. lol This is cheekier then I thought my company would be.

[identity profile] iamfairydreamer.livejournal.com 2010-02-24 02:45 pm (UTC)(link)
How funny!! Having never been in a city that was hosting the games, I was totally unaware of all those rules! I love how some of those companies got around the "rules"!!

[identity profile] dreamhope.livejournal.com 2010-02-25 03:08 am (UTC)(link)
The rules were a surprise to us too... and a huge shock to poor Olympia Pizza!

[identity profile] awehla.livejournal.com 2010-02-24 04:41 pm (UTC)(link)
That Olympia Pizza thing is ridiculous. I was not aware there were all these rules either - we've got this to look forward to in our summer sporting event taking place in our capital city between 2011 and 2013.

Just thought I'd get some practice in.

Lisa
x

[identity profile] edableme.livejournal.com 2010-02-25 03:44 am (UTC)(link)
These are great. I have been giggling at the unofficial adds as well but many of these are new to me. Thanks for posting them.

[identity profile] breklor.livejournal.com 2010-02-25 02:36 pm (UTC)(link)
*pees on IOC*