Crazy Clause in McDonald's' Olympics Sponsorship Deal Bans All Other Vendors From Selling French Fries to Attendees
"The only loop hole to this is if it is served with fish," reads a statement from the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG).
The Daily Telegraph's Tom Chivers is incredulous:
Apparently, McDonald's are so terrified of off-brand chips that they will only let you buy them as part of a British Heritage Ye Olde Fishe and Chippes package. Heaven forfend you should try to ask for just the chips. I dare say they'll get one of the Eastern European hammer-throwers to hurl you bodily from the venue.
Sadly, the Sponsorship Gods have indeed gone crazy. According to The Guardian, the Olympics' official restaurant sponsor signed a deal with the International Olympic Committee giving it "sole rights to sell chips or french fries."
In fact, LOCOG had to get permission from McDonald's to sell fish and chips — a traditional British combo.
The New Statesman notes that this is just the latest bit of wackery from an Olympics "suffocated by sponsors" that has already banned Olympic Park visitors from wearing T-shirt the don't feature the logo of an Olympics sponsor.
