REMOTE-CONTROLLED miniatures of Mini cars whizzing around the athletics stadium to shuttle javelins, discus and hammers back to the athletes have triggered branding questions at what are strictly ad-free Olympic venues at the London Games.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) ensures adverts or logos of products are not visible in the fields of play in line with its Olympic Charter, despite sponsors paying hundreds of millions of dollars to be associated with the games.
The Minis, made by BMW – which is also Games sponsors – may not carry visible logos but are instantly recognisable for what they are. “There is no commercial reason (behind choosing Minis),” Timo Lumme, the IOC’s director of TV and marketing services, said yesterday when asked by reporters if branding rules were being broken.
He said the choice as transporters for the athletes’ equipment was not dictated by a commercial decision. Since the start of the athletics competitions last week, the Minis have become a point of discussion, with their use inside the stadium raising the questions of whether the IOC was indirectly relaxing its own strict advertising rules.
There are three of these vehicles in total. Each puts in four-hour shifts across nine days of athletics competition, covering six kilometres per day.
The Mini also featured in this year’s Olympics opening ceremony but again it was the new model and not the one symbolising iconic British post-war design.
“The bottom line is that the producer showed an individual quirkiness, a fantastically entertaining take on British history,” said Lumme of the car’s presence in the opening ceremony. – (Reuters)