Some of you might have missed it, but this is an Olympic year.And indeed, it's the year of the Games being in London. Further to that, I happen to live within an Olympic borough. Exciting or what?
Well, let's pass over the point of my personal excitement for the moment, but in a wider spirt of enthusiasm, I thought I'd share with you a logo that I spotted the other day.
A local college, which I pass every day on my way to work, has just been decked out to advertise the fact that it's undertaking 'Games maker training'.
Now quite apart from the fact that that is an horrendous use of language, I couldn't help but notice the branding on a large banner hanging outside the college.
And that's what I reproduce here.
The only difference on the one I spotted at the college is that there's a Cadbury's logo to the bottom right, outside the dark blue box.
It didn't take long before I started wondering why a sponsor's logo has equal prominence with the logos of both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Might it be telling us something about what the Games are really about?
And what does it say about any expected – or even desired – Olympic legacy?
I leave that to your imaginations.
I saw a young man decked out in full sports regalia this morning, expensive running shoes, track suit bottoms, running vest - he was walking on the pavement smoking a cigarette.
ReplyDeleteWhich is just as strange a juxtaposition to sporting endeavour as the two major sponsors of the ultimate in sporting endeavour - Coca-Cola and McDonalds.
Forgive me for not knowing the actual facts, but if you asked any coach of any of the competing Olympians this year what an aspiring young athlete should incorporate in their diet I'm fairly certain that Coke and Big Macs (however much salad you pile on top to try and pretend that its healthy) would not be in the big plan, I'd go so far as to say that both would be explicitly excluded.
So why not let cigarette manufacturers sponsor the Olympics ?