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| Past Sports from the past week. Past sports article for the week of 8/24/08 Political Events at The Big Boy Olympics By Grey Sports The Olympic Games have always been somewhat political. Russia and the US have boycotted the event in the past causing medal glory chaos, Hitler tried to use them to prove his blonde haired, blue eyed, straight toothed, sauerkraut sucking supermen were superior to the rest of humanity, even Richard Nixon tried to prove the power of moon rock powered socks, which was unpleasant for all concerned. This year mutants, freaks and other worldly garments are strict no-nos. China, in trying to present a smiling face to the world even as it dabbles in some of the greatest international bloopers, has clamped down on anything overt. Being inventive and spiteful the nations of the world have turned their full efforts to covertly using the Olympics to spite each other, principally using the media. Nothing so overt as biased reporting, the news rooms remain largely neutral. Except of course for Fox News which is blaming the early Chinese medal domination on Barak Obama and his terrorist allies who keep telling everyone that the ice caps are melting. This time around events are far more subtle, with propaganda being released through advertisements. Large global concerns like McDonalds, Starbucks and Hitmen United are staying out of it, preferring an air of neutrality that makes their products and services easier to sell internationally. Other groups are attempting to curry favour with whoever they can for whatever they can, with about as much forethought as one would come to expect from a bunch of advertisers. Some are blink and you miss it affairs. Tuna companies that proudly proclaim that their product is caught in dolphin friendly nets have made quiet changes to their labelling, now advertising themselves as 100% Chinese Swimmer Free. Equally subtle is the Levis ad that proudly proclaims itself to be proud supporters of the only country not invading anyone, Luxembourg. In quiet, almost noticed response Luxembourg has said it’s not their fault, it’s just that no one notices when its armed forces, all three guys in a Volvo, cross the border for anything other than cheap liquor. These politically charged advertisements are not all sad, though that tends to mean they are far more mean spirited, such as one German beer advertisement that pokes fun of the horrific foot odour of President Bush, something that has haunted the US ever since that tragic visit to a Japanese restaurant that was mistaken as a fumigation gone wrong. Not all is quite that witty or successful, the province of Quebec is quietly running small advertisements in print media that takes digs at Canada’s relatively poor performance to date. The “This wouldn’t be happening if we were our own country” campaign has failed to gain in momentum or popularity, mostly because audiences on both side of Frenchified border can’t help but wonder if that means Canada would have greater success by dumping Quebec rather than the other way around. |
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