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 ant on
-
Did you also know that the Olympic site area has been made a temporary tax haven so McDonalds etc don't even have to pay any tax on what they sell there - http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/commentanalysis/corporatewatch/thegr...
-
Permalink Reply by james walsh on
-
ant* i did not know that, thanks. Also Clive* - coca cola is one of the main sponsors. Isn't it ironic with all the fuss about drugs in sport when coca cola was THE biggest cocaine dealer in history ? ?
-
Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
-
I wonder what would happen to you if you tried to sneak a can of pepsi in...
-
Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
-
Yes thanks ant, I did not know about this either. I think it shows the extent to which the Olympics "Movement" is now enmeshed with big business. I think your link about tax relief also suggests that the big donors aren't as generous as they seem at first, indeed there seems to have been a quid pro quo operating here for the world's fattest Olympics. I also note that
LOCOG itself (the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games) is also exempt from taxation.
The body is chaired by Paul Deighton, a former Chief Executive of Goldman Sachs during the period the bank were using offshore schemes to pay executive bonuses.
What a surprise that on R4 this morning, Goldman Sachs were reported having made calculations that the Olympics will be a positive boost to the economy overall (claimed might boost GDP by 0.4% or similar).
I for one find this hard to believe.
-
Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
-
So what are you doing about it? As a supporter party that has done this?
-
-
Right from 753 BC (or BCE if you're a fan of the Gods of Olympus) the Games at Olympia
were a total pain for all war-loving city-states, disturbing people's honest ambitions for a
bit of rocky territory, ruining the lives and livelihoods of spear and bow manufacturers
and reducing the families of poor fletchers to penury. With stop-go peace treaties every
four years, it was hardly worth fitting out an army or fleet at all. No wonder the Ayatollah's
ancestors walked and sailed all over them. Of course if they'd ever got into the habit of
paying their taxes . . . .
At least nowadays that little tory Lord Coe or the more diminutive Lord Moynihan aren't
strutting around telling Syria or the Taliban or even the little Brits or Yanks that it's time
for yet another ceasefire. Spearmakers and fletchers, however bloated and obese, can
sleep belligerently in their beds, with rooftop missiles to protect us all.
-
Permalink Reply by gilly on
-
Whats new! Mcain with their beautiful healthy sunflower logo emblazoned all over the kids tops were the sponsors of a 3K jog in the park that my daughter took part in. With free giveaways from a plethora of junk food companies including Monster drinks fuelling up the ADHD kids!
And our local Park Road Pool with its recent refurbishment and the new american diner greeting us with fried food smells as we enter our local fitness establishment! Were are the fruit smoothies at low cost and healthier food options and ideas to inspire new choices towards healthier living?
All the talk of the Olympics inspiring our youth to be more fitness concious and active yet the shok gym closed in Tottenham green and there is no longer a space for the teens. Park Rd has no space for them only for a limited period during holidays.... I suggested when the refurbishment was being planned that they convert part of the ground floor into a gym for the teenagers but instead there is empty useless entrance space recently used as un needed overspill for the greasy spoon seating area and extra changing room space that mostly seems empty. Meanwhile my teens are desperate to get into the gym! AAAhhhhhrrrrrrrr!!!
-
Permalink Reply by Christopher Fowler on
-
Clive Carter - Agree! Bloated junk food companies, fat "games". No disrespect to people who struggle with weight issues, by the way - the prevalence of fattening-food companies makes it harder to stay healthy. These "partners" deserve each other, but do the rest of us deserve either of them?
-
-
In the effort to out-do the previous host city's Olympic offering, we have subsequent host cities asking in effect:
Can I Super-Size* that for an extra 50p £50m?
Olympic bloat is the unhealthy option.
*McDonald's eventually dropped their Super-Size option following its linking with obesity ...
-
Permalink Reply by Tim B on
-
Straightforwardly not acceptable. Tobacco advertising has been banned, unhealthy food and drink advertising should be likewise; even if that's in no respect feasible, there is no question that events - international or otherwise - dealing with and promoting physical excellence and health generally should not accept sponsorship from such corporate bodies.
Nuff Said
-
-
Tim I think you may be slightly missing my point.
If the Olympics are to take place in their current form, it is essential that firms with the girth of McDonalds sponsor them (and that is the problem).
As was made clear in the Newsnight programme by a former Olympic fundraiser, there is no queue of alternative sponsors waiting in the wings. Without sponsorship from corporations like McDonalds, the Olympics just would not happen.
However, if the Obesitized Olympics were slimmed down to a fraction of their current grossly bloated dimensions, then many more cities in the world could contemplate hosting them. Also, the need for giant junk food companies to chip in would be downsized.
Put the McDonalympics on a diet!
Daily Mail article:
McDonald's force Olympics bosses to ban all other restaurants from selling chips ... unless they're served with fish
There is also a slight fear amongst the authorities of anarchist attack on the basis that the Olympics are a spectacle of wealth. I hope the games go off without incident, but I can understand those who see it as a display of ostentation. The best single example of this is the Orbit tower in the Olympic park. The £23m cost of this grotesque "sculpture" was met by ArcelorMittal.
-
-
I get what you're saying Clive - and particularly what you say about 'in their current form' chimes with what I think a lot of people are (or should be) thinking. If the Olympics require their support they need to be re-evaulated from the ground up.
Anyway, I wouldn't describe myself as an anarchist exactly (well actually I probably would), but I certainly wouldn't think the majority who do would consider violence an acceptable form of protest.
Really useful and informative thread, either way...
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
