The London Olympics bill was announced in the Queen's speech in May, setting up the Olympic Delivery Authority which would co-ordinate and ensure the delivery of the venues and infrastructure necessary to host the Games and grant the Mayor of London Olympic specific powers to enable the Greater London Authority to prepare for and stage the Games.
According to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, which is preparing the bill, it would also "meet the requirements of the International Olympic Committee to effectively reduce ambush marketing, eliminate street vending and control advertising during Games time."
Ambush marketing generally occurs when one brand pays to sponsor an event and a rival brand attempts to associate itself with the event without being an official sponsor and this is usually done without breaking any laws.
Brandchannel.com gives examples of successful campaigns.
At the 1984 Olympics, Fuji was an official sponsor – so Kodak sponsored the TV broadcasts of the Games and the US track team. And at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, official sponsors including Reebok paid $700 million. When the US basketball team won gold, Nike sponsored the press conference and when Michael Jordan accepted his gold, he covered up the Reebok logo on his kit.
London's Evening Standard reports that the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising has written to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, calling for it to rethink the proposed change to UK law that it describes as "a step too far."
This is not the first time that law has been changed to prevent ambush marketing. The newspaper recounts the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. The official sponsor was Pepsi and the Government changed the trade mark and marketing laws of the country with the effect that spectators drinking Coca-Cola were ejected from the venues.
UPDATE, 15/07/2005: The bill was published today and is available at the link below.
