Not Quite Ad Fascism at Turin’s Olympics

Using the word “fascism” in any Italian context is intellectually dangerous and morally dubious. At the same time, if it waddles like a duck, quacks like a duck and flies like a duck, it might just be a duck. Brand protection of sponsors at the Olympics almost (but not quite) goes to lengths that would have been recognized in the country seventy years ago.

Sponsorship of the Olympics costs companies engaged in it millions and is seen as pretty cheap advertising by some. Coke, Visa and Samsung are just a few of the big guys who throw cash around like it was confetti. But for the cash, the companies demand quite a bit. For example, credit card purchases of Olympic memorabilia can only be done with a Visa card.

Nelson Graves of Reuters explained in a recent piece, “The rules are tough. No logos are allowed inside the venues except for those on official equipment or athletes' uniforms. Even that is regulated -- no logo on athletes’ clothing can be more than 20 square centimeters (three square inches). Spectators can cover over-size logos with tape, remove the clothing -- or leave. The brand protectors go to great lengths. Tape covers logos on the soap dispensers in the bathrooms of the Palavela rink. In the souvenir store in the Turin athletes’ village, price stickers cover the logos on the laptops at the payout counter. A reporter in a press tribune was made to place her bottle of Sant’Anna water under the table. For the thirsty, Olympics partner Coca-Cola provides free water -- in no-logo bottles.”

Now, free speech is a hot button issue this month, thanks to some irresponsible cartoons in European newspapers and hot-headed dingbats posing as protectors of Islam. But no one really thinks that kind of freedom extends to corporations. Business speech has long been held to be more circumscribed than other kinds. Oddly, that means that Coke can say many things about its products, but it can’t actually tell untruths. The same cannot be said of one’s local Democratic or Republican candidate for office.

All the same, Mr. Graves noted “A reporter had to take off sunglasses during a news conference -- the fashion label was too visible.” Sorry, but if one pays for sunglasses, a competing maker of sunglasses shouldn’t be allowed to deny the owner of the property the use of that property for which he paid under any circumstances. One wonders how long it will be before someone decides that the spending €120 to watch the Women’s Ice Hockey Final entitles one to wear whatever the hell one wants. Violence here would be entirely justified, and the Kensington Review will gladly contribute to any legal defense fund needed.

The Danish flag appears here as a protest against the violence being done to the free press of that country and elsewhere by those offended by some cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed, peace be unto him. A perceived insult is not an excuse for intimidation and violence, even in the name of the Creator. One cannot insult God, only small-minded men who falsely claim to speak for Him. © Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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