In addition, Ad Age reported that "a 35-day, one-kilometer Brand Exclusion Zone will be enforced around all Olympic venues, inside which no brands that compete with official sponsor brands can advertise." That's a 2/3 of a mile no ads for you zone.
They've gone even battier on what social media you can get out of the games: Athlete's cannot upload pictures, video, or even straight text tweets of anyone's athletic performances -- including their own.
George Simpson summed up:
With these restrictions, the Olympics has officially shifted from a spectator event to a made-for-TV production to sell McDonald's, Coca-Cola, British Airways and Adidas. There is no longer any pretense about "our best home-grown amateur athletes" against "your best home-grown amateur athletes." Rather, it’s "our highly paid professionals -- who probably got a free ride and training at a U.S. university -- and are skilled at hiding performance-enhancing drug use" vs. "your highly paid professionals -- who probably got a free ride and training at a U.S. university -- and are skilled at hiding performance-enhancing drug use."
There is something inherently sad about seeing NBA players crush teams from countries that don't even have professional basketball leagues (or a well-oiled NCAA farm system). Or having to test someone's DNA to determine if they are male or female. Or countries with GNPs in the trillions grinding out wins in meaningless sports like Canoe Slalom or Trampoline over countries that can't pave their roads or give everyone a tetanus shot.
He added: "If you think the Olympics are for "everyone," that is because you have never been to the Olympics to see that it is only for those tied to sponsor dollars in some way, shape or form. Within 30 seconds of going on sale, tickets to anything and everything you would want to see are gone. What the sponsored haven't hoarded, you can get on the black market for 10x or 20x their face value -- or if you are tied to sponsor dollars in some way, shape or form, they will be put in your hands."
About the only thing the International Olympic Committee (IOC) hasn't been able to monetize is an actual PSL type fee. 17 days of games just wouldn't allow it. Yet.
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