Heads up, Londoners; best scrub away any reference to the Olympics at your home or on your person. Five-ringed decorations, signage boasting a pun on “the games”, banners alluding to "gold"—toss them out. And ditch anything else that the “brand police” might decide detracts value from the 2012 Olympics’ mighty sponsors.You think I’m being snide, but nay. It’s actually currently illegal for an individual or small business to use those words in any manner that might be construed to be profit-seeking. The Independent reports that "Almost 300 enforcement officers will be seen across the country checking firms to ensure they are not staging “ambush marketing” or illegally associating themselves with the Games at the expense of official sponsors such as Adidas, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and BP."Here are the words that you must not speak or evoke in any context that may infringe on the rights of the oil and fast food companies to reap sizable enough profits from the Olympics:
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- “Olympics” (obviously)
- “gold”
- “silver”
- “bronze”
- “summer”
- “sponsors”
- “London”
- “games”