Olympic ads: Yao and LeBron James ganbei

Submitted by thebeijinger on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 12:30

by Paul Pennay

In the wake of some big-name global brands releasing their Olympic advertising campaigns in the past couple of weeks, including official sponsors like UPS and Coca-Cola, Beijing authorities have been busy making sure that all the sponsors will be getting their money's worth. BOCOG has announced a crackdown on unofficial use of the Olympic logo and the beginning of a final sweep to make sure only the ads of official Olympic sponsors appear in areas close to the competition sites and along major avenues such as the airport expressway. Coca-cola products will be the only beverages available at all the Olympic venues. It's also been reported that ads starring Olympic athletes such as Liu Xiang （Anli and Cadillac), Yi Lianjian (Nike) and Yao Ming (Pepsi), but advertising brands that are not Olympic sponsors, will not be permitted to be broadcast between Aug 1 and Aug 27.

The latest video (see above) in Coca-Cola's Olympic advertising push, which began screening in the US this past week, features Yao Ming and LeBron James engaged in a "cultural face-off" before uniting over a couple of bottles of sweet fizzy drinks. A second commercial called Bird's Nest Stadium is set to air on August 8. According to a report in Adage, the clip features animated birds flying around the world collecting straws from unsuspecting people and using them to build the National Stadium. These two ads follow the earlier release of a Shuang City clip that also featured Yao Ming.