Vancouver Olympics Unhappy With 'Cool Sporting Event That Takes Place in British Columbia Between 2009 and 2011 Edition' Slogan

from the oh-really? dept

Thu, Dec 17th 2009 8:40am — Mike Masnick

We've been covering how the Olympics has been able to get various governments around the world to grant it extra special intellectual property protection on certain words and phrases, with the upcoming Vancouver Olympics being no exception. In that case, you have to be careful of the use of "Vancouver," "Olympics," and even "2010." So, clothing maker Lululemon decided to come up with a line that mocks these restrictions, with a brand new line of clothing called:

"Cool Sporting Event That Takes Place in British Columbia Between 2009 and 2011 Edition."

Note how careful the company is to avoid any of the restricted words. Nicely done.

Of course, guess who isn't happy? Reader Joe McEnaney alerts us to the news that, even though the Vancouver Olympics can't officially do anything to Lululemon, it has decided to try shaming the company instead, expressing disappointment that the company has "has broken the spirit of Olympic trademark regulations." Of course, even so, the Olympic officials seem to misunderstand what's going on here. They claim:

"We expected better sportsmanship from a local Canadian company than to produce a clothing line that attempts to profit from the Games but doesn't support the Games or the success of the Canadian Olympic team."

But, of course, that's not what's going on here at all. They're not trying to profit off of the Olympic Games. They're trying to profit off of the ridiculous free speech restrictions put in place by the Olympics for no good reason.

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Filed Under: artwork, olympics, slogan, vancouver
Companies: lululemon

45 Comments

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Marcel de Jong (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 7:46am

The Olympics
it's no longer about the game, but about the money. Greed has corrupted this once great sporting event, and I, for one, will not watch any coverage of the games.

The boardmembers of the IOC have broken the spirit of the games, where competing was more important than winning.
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- Brian (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 7:52am
  
  Re: The Olympics
  And I will be avoiding anything Olympic as well
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  - Pitabred (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:11am
    
    Re: Re: The Olympics
    I'll put my hat into the ring doing the same
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- Casey (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 12:43pm
  
  Re: The Olympics
  I'm going to see the medal ceremonies with Trooper and Loverboy playing. That will be my contribution to the Olympic movement.
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- Anonymous Coward, 18 Dec 2009 @ 2:04am
  
  Re: The Olympics
  spirit of the game? It's just more bread and better games. Or is that better bread and more games?
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lavi d (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 8:49am

All I Can Say...
"Cool Sporting Event That Takes Place in British Columbia Between 2009 and 2011 Edition."

Well played!
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LumpyDog (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 9:01am

Yes, they must feel awful for breaking the spirit of absurd trademark regulations.
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Ima Fish (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 9:04am

"They're trying to profit off of the ridiculous free speech restrictions...."

Considering how few of these shits will actually sell, as the vast majority of people won't get it and would not care about the issue even after it was explained to them... I highly doubt this was done for any profit. I think it was done solely as commentary on the ridiculousness of this situation.
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- Dark Helmet (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 9:38am
  
  Re:
  "Considering how few of these shits will actually sell"
  
  And the unintended typo of the day award goes to....
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- BigKeithO, 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:05am
  
  Re:
  Won't sell? Have you ever seen an ass in Lululemon pants?!? You should be doing everything in your power to make sure that these sell, for the good of mankind of course.
  
  http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?p=21687814
  
  Some nice pics on there if you care to be enlightened.
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- Casey (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 12:41pm
  
  Re:
  It was definitely done for profit. The colours of the clothing that is being sold reflect the national colours of the expected 4 biggest players in the winter Olympics: Canada, USA, Sweden, and Russia.
  
  It's also kinda funny that the zippers on the Canadian-coloured apparel are gold and on the USA-coloured apparel they are silver...
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a-dub (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 9:23am

Oh how unpatriotic of you to attempt to disrupt our revenue stream!
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Jimr (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 9:37am

They must be terrorist.
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Dave, 17 Dec 2009 @ 9:39am

I'll take 3, anyone got a link to these?
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TSO, 17 Dec 2009 @ 9:52am

> "We expected better sportsmanship from a local Canadian company than to produce a clothing line that attempts to profit from the Games but doesn't support the Games or the success of the Canadian Olympic team."

News exposure for Lululemon: free

A minute of hearty laugh: priceless
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Greg, 17 Dec 2009 @ 9:55am

shirts
Do you think I'll get sued if I start marketing a line of 'The IOC board are a bunch of douchebags' shirts?
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- Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:07am
  
  Re: shirts
  to direct, to borrow a bit (read this as... a lot) try this instead "Cool Sporting Event That Takes Place in British Columbia Between 2009 and 2011 board members are a bunch of bags for douches." Would make a great second edition for the shirt...
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- Ryan (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:08am
  
  Re: shirts
  Of course you'll get sued, that's how money is made now a days right? How pathetic!
  
  However a shirt with that statement would surely sell looooooooooots of T's :)
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william (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:07am

It's never about the game or the sport or the competition anymore.

The IOC is currently the biggest bully around town, and they are the one to talk about sportsmanship?
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:08am

More like:

Another stupid protest that happens for about 15 minutes on the internet by whiners who can't accept the majority decision of democracy.

Mike, stop giving these idiots airtime, it only encuorages them to continue to be stupid.
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- Dementia (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 11:34am
  
  Re:
  I rather see him stop giving your comments airtime, but it's his blog, so let him make the decisions.
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- What the ???, 17 Dec 2009 @ 2:30pm
  
  Re:
  "the majority decision of democracy."
  
  Please explain
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Designerfx (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:11am

lululemon
I've been to one of those, and they're quite a good place! They have a calendar of stuff they do around each month involving free yoga classes and they have stuff that my girlfriend absolutely adores. guys, buy your girl a gift there and reap the reward of your girl wearing yoga pants/panties. Not a sponsor here, but I dig it.

Maybe we should change the IOC message? We should say this: ""We expected better sportsmanship from the IOC whom instead attempts to profit from the Games but doesn't support the Games or the success of the Canadian Olympic team."

cut a couple words and voila! the IOC explained.
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Bob, 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:27am

Free advertising
This is pretty much just another advertising stunt by Lululemon. No doubt they "reported" this "controversy" themselves to the media. Goes right along with their past stunts like writing derogatory graffiti on their stores so people think they're being targeted by vandals.

Don't bother wasting any more of your time giving them the free advertising they want.
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- Designerfx (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 12:48pm
  
  Re: Free advertising
  where do you come up with this crap? How do you suppose the IOC statement came around if it was lululemon that reported it? IOC would have ignored it, probably.
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- Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2009 @ 2:31pm
  
  Re: Free advertising
  Yes, because no one else ever gets free advertising with such stunts - huh ?
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:29am

Typical
Anyone who knows Lululemon, knows that this is typical of their marketing dept. Kind of refreshing, if you ask me.
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Overcast (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:33am

"It's never about the game or the sport or the competition anymore.

The IOC is currently the biggest bully around town, and they are the one to talk about sportsmanship?"

+10

Yep - the nerve of them talking about 'sportmanship' if they don't make 100% of the profits, they cry like babies.
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harbingerofdoom (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:48am

dear USOC:
please note my request to cap any future bids to host any multinationally attended series of sporting events which are held every four years to a total limit of $5.00USD and one small packet of planters peanuts (not to exceed 6oz) per contestant.
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., 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:48am

This turns me off a lot.

They killed the spirit of the olympics because of greedy.

Not talking about the t-shirt the other guys.
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Vincent Clement, 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:56am

"We expected better sportsmanship from a local Canadian company than to produce a clothing line that attempts to profit from the Games but doesn't support the Games or the success of the Canadian Olympic team."

Hmmm, seeing as taxpayer dollars are being used to subsidize the "Cool Sporting Event That Takes Place in British Columbia Between 2009 and 2011" and seeing as Lululemon is a Canadian company that pays taxes, I would say that Lululemon has supported the Cool Sporting Event and the Canadian Cool Sporting Event team.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2009 @ 10:59am

CTV have been advertising the Olympics "can I use the word?" for so long now, pretty much every commercial break, that I am so sick and tired of it that I don't know if I can even stomach watching the actual event itself. I used to book vacation time around watching the damned thing in the past.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2009 @ 11:37am

Just realized I need to do something
Oh man... I just realized that the Olympics are going to be on TV. I wonder what I'm going to do now that my favorite shows won't be on TV for a few weeks.
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- Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2009 @ 12:08pm
  
  Re: Just realized I need to do something
  Nevermind, I just realized it would be on NBC. Whew!
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  - Johnny Canada, 17 Dec 2009 @ 12:11pm
    
    Re: Re: Just realized I need to do something
    There will be a good comedy on FOX .... It is called the evening news.
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    - Glenn Beck, 17 Dec 2009 @ 2:33pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Just realized I need to do something
      Hey - you terrorist ... you should be in Guantanamo
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Alan Gerow (profile), 17 Dec 2009 @ 11:37am

How is a clothing company expected to show better sportsmanship? Doesn't it require actually participating in a sport to conduct sportsmanship?
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Steve, 17 Dec 2009 @ 11:48am

The IOC. If there's a buck to be made and we can't have a cut, then we'll stop you from making that buck.
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Steve, 17 Dec 2009 @ 11:48am

The IOC. If there's a buck to be made and we can't have a cut, then we'll stop you from making that buck.
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redrum, 17 Dec 2009 @ 12:46pm

I just wanna see Lindsay Vonn in a pair of those pants..
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Chris Brand, 17 Dec 2009 @ 1:17pm

free paper notes "free advertising" angle
The free "24hrs" paper (apparently http://vancouver24hrs.ca/ - but I can't get there from work) has an article today headlined "Lululemon wins marketing gold" noting that "VANOC's helping them get their name in the news", "It may even inspire others", and "The more VANOC whines about it [...] it's going to make Lululemon look even better".
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- nasch (profile), 18 Dec 2009 @ 8:00am
  
  Re: free paper notes "free advertising" angle
  Are they going to get sued by the IOC for using the word "gold"?
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Joe, 17 Dec 2009 @ 2:20pm

their response is interesting
This was a bit of a trap. If Lululemon's response confirmed this clothing line was regarding the Olympics, that's the back door into a lawsuit. But they handled it well, their spokesperson Eric Petersen said this:

--------------

“We sat in a room and people were going, ‘Let’s put 2010 on it, let’s put Vancouver on it,’” he said. “And we said, ‘You can’t do that. You can’t say this.’

“We went through the litany of things you cannot say and started throwing out a bunch of things we felt we could say that were respectful of the rules and regulations.”

According to Petersen, the clothing is aimed at any of the sporting events in the 2009 to 2011 window such as the World Junior Hockey Championships.

“We would never do anything that we felt was ambush marketing,” he added.

-----------
source:http://www.canada.com/life/Lululemon+irks+Olympic+officials+with+rogue +clothing+line/2347227/story.html

So overall - good play to Lululemon. They stayed within the law, made fun of some overbearing restrictions and got a great marketing coup as well.

As an aside, in their hoodie line of clothes, the Canadian hoodies have gold zippers and the american ones have silver zippers :)

As an aside,
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2009 @ 5:53pm

I would have to say this is one of those cases where Mike has been used by a group not looking for anything other than free exposure and a chance to thumb their noses for cash.

FAIL!
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- 1234, 17 Dec 2009 @ 8:48pm
  
  Re:
  Actually it looks more like a win, unless you are from Bizarro world
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