Olympic "Brand Police" Infringing On Liberty at 2012 Games
In what can only be described as sheer insanity, London has enacted some of the absolute most liberty-infringing laws (with up to 20K fines per violation) around the 2012 Olympic games in order to protect its corporate sponsors. The main effort is to punish and prevent "Guerilla marketing tactics" (organized grass roots advertising that isn't officially an Olympic sponsor). You would think common sense would rule and that a deliberate, organized event or push would be easy to spot, however our friends across the pond seem to disagree. 300+ "Brand Police" are currently patrolling the streets and shops of London, demanding that any reference to the Olympics be removed immediately or from any storefront or interior in addition to many other commonplace words. From the Independent:
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", if they give the impression of a formal connection to the Olympics. See examples of banned and allowed advertising below.Publicans have been advised that blackboards advertising live TV coverage must not refer to beer brands or brewers without an Olympics deal, while caterers and restaurateurs have been told not to advertise dishes that could be construed as having an association with the event.At the 40 Olympics venues, 800 retailers have been banned from serving chips to avoid infringing fast-food rights secured by McDonald's.
What? Businesses that have existed under sole proprietorship for up to a century in some cases can't serve FRENCH FRIES (chips)?? A proprietor of a bar can't list the beers he has on tap if he also admits to having the Olympics on a television in his establishment? They can't have a "Summer" sale? I have also read about flower shops being cited for having flowers up in the shape of the rings, and stores with "Olympic" in the name being forced to paint over the offending word amidst other absurd crackdowns. There should be anarchy in the streets over this, and fortunately there are groups that are fighting back through billboards (which are quickly painted over) and through street art (pic'd).The ridiculousness doesn't end at businesses however. The rules also apply to tourists and attendees of the games - one major blunder came from Lord Coe claiming that anyone wearing a Pepsi T-shirt wouldn't be admitted to the games. He has since backed off that stance, as massive and rightful criticism was rained down upon him, but the fact that he even considered it in the first place is amazing enough. Somebody please blast some "Anarchy in the UK" for me.Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!
