The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

So the world-famous aerobatic team, the Red Arrows, have been banned from appearing at the 2012 London Olympics because they have been deemed “too British”.

Apparently organisers say the military background of the flight team might be offensive to other countries taking part in the Games.

Hahahahaha!

Apart from the fact the display team have performed at about 4000 events worldwide, they are bright fucking red planes – hardly the colour of war vehicles.

Jesus, they’re more likely to be mistaken as Fire Engines than tools of war but the English Department of Culture, Media and Sport have deemed the display team ‘too militaristically British’ and so have banned them.

Whilst sensitivity is a trait I normally applaud … and it is hardly the sort of thing most Governments, especially the English, are known for … this is taking things a little too far.

Hell, if anything, showing how some military planes have been decommissioned from acts of violence to now entertain the masses, might do Britain some good.

Maybe the Government should take a leaf out of Singapore’s book – those buggers don’t need an excuse to get their planes out and perform all sorts of ludicrous moves, even if it’s over highly urbanised areas!

In the brand world, it’s these sorts of decisions that can really turn people off and allow a competitor to exploit the opportunity for their own gain [ala Virgin when BA removed the Union Jack from the tails of their planes] but then it would seem the British Government are in competition with George W Bush to see how quickly they can turn the people against them in as short a time as possible.

Bush and his mob were MILES ahead – but us Brits are pretty good when the glory of embarrassment is there for the taking!

Anyway, if you want to voice your opinion – feel free to call me a War-Mongering Pig – however if you disagree with what has been done, you can sign a petition against it here.

… and I managed to do it in just a little over 2 years.

This is obviously a major achievement and demonstrates my ‘best-in-class’ talent at both procrastination and spouting ranty, pointless, shitty nonsense .

I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you to my parents, clients and colleagues for their continual encouragement, advice and support [ahem!] and to the advertising and marketing communities, I want you to know so much of this achievement belongs to you.

So today is the opening of the Olympics …

There’s lots of talk about the games having lost its spirit and now being nothing more than a money focused corporation/event … but that’s nothing new, it’s been like that for decades and if you read Andrew Jennings absolutely brilliant book, The New Lords Of The Rings you’ll get all the seedy details of how the Olympic committee operate.

Infact the rumour is that the Olympics were going to be going to be held in China in 2000 – due to pressure from global corporate sponsors who were demanding new markets of opportunity being opened up for them – however a little incident called Tiananmen Square occurred and plans were hastily switched to making Sydney the winning bid.

And I particularly like all this talk about China being polluted.

You think that has just happened?

Of course not … it’s been like that for years and years and years … so to see athletes and sporting organisations suddenly start claiming that is something new is a joke. They make it sound like they’ve never been exposed to any pollution in their lives and that’s obviously a complete load of bollocks.

I’m not denying the air quality sucks [literally, it sucks the life out of you] but don’t blame China – who are doing everything in their power to improve it, at least temporarily – blame the Olympic committee and corporate sponsors who pushed for this.

So to the American athletes who turned up with their black face masks on, maybe they should place the logos of Coke and Macca’s all over them given they were just two of the key American companies who pushed for a Chinese Olympics.

This will be a great games … an absolutely great games.

Why?

Well make no mistake, this isn’t about China wanting to show the World it is a country that wants to belong, this is about China showing the World it will be the dominant player – and nothing will stand in its way in doing that.

Will that mean all sorts of dubious shenanigans taking place to keep the illusion alive?

Yep … and that is not acceptable … but you also have to remember all countries have practiced ‘illusion strategies’ … fuck, Sydney even took all the homeless off the streets when the Pope visited last week.

Think about it, a man who preaches we should love all people holds an event where the very people who need the most help are picked up and taken away. Nice.

Don’t get me wrong, China has many issues … and they cannot and should not be ignored or swept under the carpet … but it is a wonderful country with wonderful, warm and fascinating people, so we should all watch today’s opening ceremony because not only will it be spectacular, it will signal the dawn of a new phase in the planets evolution – Civilization 3.0 – and I for one don’t think that’s as scary a proposition as so many scared [but for selfish reasons] Western politicians would like us to believe.

UPDATE

I don’t know if this proves what I said in this post or not, but I had to put this clip of the ‘opening’ of the opening ceremony because it just blows my mind …

Can you see what it is?

Yes, it’s Rosie’s paw prints … but what makes it cute is they appear on a book that is just about to be put out – ‘Ideas That Left Their Mark’ – that features a heat sensitive cover so when you pick it up, the temperature change from your hand leaves an impression.

OK … OK .., given the impression fades away after a bit, we should of called it ‘Ideas That TEMPORARILY Left Their Mark’ … but this is advertising so we can ignore issues like that.

Cough cough splutter splutter.