Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
It is fitting that McDonalds is an Official Sponsor of the current Olympics
There's been criticism that proprietors of hamburgers, fizzy drinks, chocolate and booze should sponsor the Olympic Games.
On BBC2's Newsnight programme recently, a heart specialist argued that it was wrong that producers of junk food should be associated with the Olympics. The Olympics were about health and exercise, whereas there are now high and growing levels of obesity in the population (obesity is overtaking smoking as the leading cause of premature death).
Such criticism is misplaced.
It is wholly appropriate that junk food companies sponsor the Olympics in their current form. Apart from most of the individual competitors, the current Olympics is the most grossly over-bloated games.
More events, more team sports, more administrators, more competitors, more missiles, more drugs testing, more officials and more exclusive Olympic car lanes to ferry them than ever before. Bigger and wider. A heavier and fatter footprint than ever. The most obese games ever leads to more cost and a gluttonous need for sponsorship. You can't be too fussy in these circumstances taking morsels from wholefoods shops.
Giant junk food corporations and the modern Olympics: partners who deserve each other!
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
-
Coca Cola has been a consistent backer of the Olympics since 1928. I came across the poster below that was used at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where they were one of the main sponsors (there's more here about Coca Cola's sponsorship of the Berlin Olympics here)
I've seen a claim that, when the supply to Germany of the Coca Cola syrup ran out during WW2, Coca Cola Germany developed Fanta - incidentally this is referred to in a post on HoL of James' almost exactly three years ago (YOUR sex change operation: the council wants to know).
(Disclaimer: I do like Coca Cola, though I wouldn't drink it often)
One People, One Nation, One Drink
-
Permalink Reply by Christopher Fowler on
-
The slogan on the 1936 Berlin Olympics poster for Coca-Cola is based on the slogan of the Nazi party:
Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer – "One people, one nation, one leader"; one of the most-repeated slogans of the NSDAP
-
Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
-
This happened 66 years ago. The games were awarded Berlin in 1931 during the Weimar Republic.
-
Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
-
Sechsundsiebzig.
-
-
Thank you, I missed 10 years.
-
-
The modern Olympic era began in 1896, but I would argue that the games as we know them today, began in 1936 in Berlin.
The previous Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 1932 had been severely affected by the Great Depression.
Much of what is associated with the modern Olympics began in 1936, most obviously the torch relay (and adoration of the flame) but also a strong connection with that other Olympic symbol, the five rings. It was the first sporting event to be televised.
I found the Coca Cola promotion here.
It must have been a spectacle to impress, with the Zepplin Hindenburg floating above the Berlin stadium. This article is worth a glance on the lasting impact:
However, the Germans did place their permanent mark on subsequent Olympic Games by introducing a number of cultural and technological innovations and establishing perhaps the most iconic modern Olympic traditions ...
The extravagant use of symbolism throughout the Berlin Olympics “left nothing to be desired in the realm of cult and culture — except possibly restraint.” The Nazis relied heavily upon “cultic practices” because “ritual was intended not merely for propagandistic effect — it reflected the movement’s sense of itself as a kind of political religion” or “secular religion.” Berlin was described as “a scene of strange fantasy” and possessing ”an almost barbaric beauty.”
Is this last also describing the ArcelorMittal tower in London's Olympic Park (without the beauty)?
-
Permalink Reply by pamish on
-
...and rising...
Any of you concerned about the olympic sponsors' tax-dodging habits, be impressed by this campaign by 38 degrees - they have shamed, so far, eight of the sponsors into giving up the tax break. A few to go, sign the petition to help them along - an online petition that's really worked.
-
Permalink Reply by ant on
-
Some more Olympic idiocy - six actors arrested for criminal damage for spilling some custard on the ground during a theatre performance designed to highlight the problems of corporate sponsorship of the Olympics. Its a bit hard to tell from googling but it sounds like they remain in custody over the weekend.
-
-
I'd endorse this police action ... if the police were a fraction as zealous over the litter that is dropped on the streets of London every day of the week ... some of it even more offensive than small quantities of green custard.
It's the sort of law enforcement we expect to see in Beijing or Moscow.
-
-
Hope they're soon released from custardy
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- Next ›
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
