Athens 2004 Games organizers have issued rules that will make it possible for some spectators at the Athens Games to be forcibly removed from stadiums if they wear clothing bearing “obvious logos of competitive companies to sponsors”.
The restriction extends to hats, T-shirts, bags and other “commercial items”.
Marketing sources say the prohibition was aimed at preventing “a commercial coup d’etat” inside stadiums. One official said, “the goal is to stop sponsors being hijacked in an orchestrated way, not to stop people wearing a particular T-shirt. It will only apply to groups. If we see 20 people sitting in a row wearing hats of a (non-sponsor) company, then yes, they will be removed”.
But there seems to be confusion as to what constitutes a group.
A spokesman for the Greek branch of Amnesty International said, “this regulation is still cause for concern. What we would like to see is a firm guarantee by the organizers that any restrictions will only be used to prevent commercial abuse of the Games and not, as we fear, to stifle individual freedom of expression”.
Meanwhile, an Olympics official said, “these rules have been written in a draconian way so that they leave no room for doubt. What is our over-arching concern and desire is to keep the free of advertising or any commerce inside stadiums”.
