Librarians Told to Stand on Guard for 2010 Sponsors
'If you are planning a kids' event... approach McDonald's and not another well-known fast-food outlet,' instructs memo.
Not a sponsor? Book 'em.
Librarians are being asked to help police kids' events and other gatherings on their premises to make sure the brands of corporations like Coke and McDonald's get exclusive play during the 2010 Olympics.
An internal memo obtained by The Tyee advises Vancouver Public Library branches to protect Olympic sponsors.
"Do not have Pepsi or Dairy Queen sponsor your event," read guidelines sent to VPL branch heads and supervisory staff last fall. "Coke and McDonald's are the Olympic sponsors. If you are planning a kids' event and approaching sponsors, approach McDonald's and not another well-known fast-food outlet."
'Do's and Don'ts'
With less than a month until Vancouver's Games, local branches may decide to join the excitement. They might plan an event linked to the torch relay. Or organize a community celebration.
Just in case, VPL manager of marketing and communications Jean Kavanagh came up with an extensive list of "Do's and Don'ts." It was sent out sometime last October or November, she said.
"As the Games get close it's kind of a reminder to people as they're doing events of some things to keep in mind," she told The Tyee Monday.
The guidelines apply mainly to highly visible gatherings with 30 or more people. Branches are advised to "ensure all equipment/goods meets VANOC's sponsorship brand requirements for things like food, clothing, merchandise."
The rules are very specific. It's fine if a Telus employee agrees to be a speaker at a library-organized event. But staff can't forget Bell is the official sponsor. They should make sure the guest removes his or her Telus jacket, the memo advises.
Tape over other labels
The same care must be taken for audio-visual equipment. The branch should try to get devices made by official sponsor Panasonic. Should staff only be able to find Sony equipment, the solution is simple.
"I would get some tape and put it over the 'Sony,'" Kavanagh said. "Just a little piece of tape."
Other rules help solve potential sponsor dilemmas. "If you are approaching businesses in your area for support and there is a Rona and Home Depot, go to Rona. If there's only a Home Depot don't approach them as Rona is the official sponsor. Try other small businesses," the memo reads.
As The Tyee reported last week, corporate sponsorship is a fundamental reality of the Olympics. Multinational firms spend tens of millions of dollars to market themselves through the Games. Domestic and international sponsorship revenue pays for more than half of VANOC's $1.75 billion operating budget.
When Vancouver won the Games in 2003, it signed agreements with the International Olympic Committee to bolster sponsor rights.
In 2007, the federal government gave VANOC "considerable powers" to protect the Games brand. Local signage legislation led to legal action against the city of Vancouver last fall.
'VANOC did not ask us to do this'
"The Library is a City department and we need to ensure our activities follow the correct protocols as the Host City," Kavanagh wrote in an email Monday morning.
She denied receiving direction from Olympics organizers when she created the VPL guidelines. "This has nothing to do with VANOC," she said later in an interview. "VANOC did not ask us to do this."
Same goes for the city, she added. Kavanagh maintained she relied on her own knowledge and initiative.
"People are just glad to have good information," she said. "You don't want to plan something if there's going to be a major problem."
The Tyee asked if major problems -- for example, a Pepsi-sponsored library event -- would have major consequences.
"You're fishing around for something that's not there," she replied. "We have a very good relationship with VANOC."
City of Vancouver spokesperson Lesli Boldt said she hasn't seen the memo. "I don’t think the city advised the library. They have their own sponsorship policy," she said.
Calls to Olympics organizers were not returned by posting time. ![]()



dave49
11-01-2010
Helpful folks
Helpful folks, these library administrators...
Holocene
11-01-2010
First gold to VPL
I didn’t think anything could beat the crass commercialism of the Atlanta McLympics, but it looks like Vancouver 2010 just might. Woo-hoo, we’re number one!
crankypants
11-01-2010
What a crock
Library's are feeling the effects of lack of funding as it is, and this yahoo thinks they should worry about who sponsors what. She should give her head a shake. The libraries have absolutely nothing to do with the games, and as such should be able to do as they please.
Maybe she should put some tape over the on button of her computer. And a little over her mouth can't hurt either.
immigrant
12-01-2010
tip of the iceberg
Why is anyone surprised? VPL is top-heavy with uber-corporate management who only care about what new sponsors they can get for their "visionary" projects, which usually consist of writing lots of reports and doing very little. And at the same time VPL is cutting hours at branches, they are sending 60+ full-time employees away from their library jobs so they can be seconded to meaningful olympic-related occupations like lining people up outside venues. Meanwhile, absolutely no regular library programs will go on during the olympics.
james green
12-01-2010
We best grin and bear this
We best grin and bear this event for now because is it is what it is. (Hate that saying, but it is.) When it is over and the bills flow in and the balance sheets are available, we will really have something to get excited about.
ReeferMadness
12-01-2010
Outrageous
But likely to cause little outrage. Sad.
Barryeng
12-01-2010
This is stupid!
Why don't they go whole hog and ban the selling of Pepsi products throughout the Province during this time period, and oh yeah, shut down all the other fast food outlets while they are at it. It makes just as much sense.
I have decided personally to stop buying coca Cola or MacDonalds products permanently, just because of these stupid restrictions, and I hope that these companies get wind of this move.
off-the-radar
12-01-2010
unbelievable
what an unbelievable memo. Libraries placating the corporate masters? Taping over logos? that is crazy! Like waking up in a sci fi novel.
And no programming during the Olympics? That won't work for the many, many kids who live in poverty in Metro Vancouver and benefit from library programs. a place of refuge and learning,
What a great example of how easily the corporations hijack our societies and our norms.
And how we are inexorably slipping into a fascist state . . .
macsasquatch
12-01-2010
Shaking my aging jock soul to its core
Gad, this is depressing.
As this 'stuff' piles up, the perks, the 'security,' the harassments, the bureaucratic moves like this one, and the use of the Olympics by the federal Conservatives to set up a winning election campaign this spring, I feel a part of me urging that I cheer for any athletes except the Canadians.
(See? Already I'm calling them 'the' Canadians, rather than 'our' Canadians.)
max von smartt
12-01-2010
I am a Free Speech Zone
I bought some Free Speech Zone underwear from COPE; will I be asked to remove it at Heineken house beerfest, the only venue I am likely to attend?
Skywalker
12-01-2010
And we thought...
...the Olympics were about sport?
tsieling
12-01-2010
It's not food
Any librarian who stocks a kids event with the garbage peddled by McDonalds, Coke, Pepsi or Dairy Queen should be fired. It's the nutritional equivalent of serving porn as a library service.
Conductor274
12-01-2010
McDonalds meat preparations
Do you want to see the procedure used to make McDonald's hamburger meat? Read this article. You'll swear of their burgers forever.And librarians are supposed to promote this garbage.
http://www.naturalnews.com/027872_ammonia_beef_products.html
Dan the socialist
12-01-2010
I will be glad never to hear
I will be glad never to hear the word owelympics again and will be glad when the Olympigs from the IOC/Vancoc are long gone...But it won't happen as the bills will take years if not decades to pay off.
Vancouver9
12-01-2010
What is a library for?
I thought libraries used to be careful guardians of the ideals of free speech. This proactive corporatism is sad. Sure, there are some bodies around the city that did a deal and have to live by it. But for a public library to be leaping up to suggest taping over logos in situations that probably have nothing to do with the brand agreement suggests that our library has lost its larger vision of being a non-corporate free speech, free thought zone. I wonder if they censor what is on the shelves?
Polakite
12-01-2010
tsieling - thank you
Nice comment.
In other news, I burped. I burped so all those that whine about great sports finally find a great life.
I in another world sponsor events as a businessman and I don't like it when my money is p---ed away. THAT SAID, this is outta control telling librarians what to do about events they have little to no involvement in.
freebear
12-01-2010
What about pepsi ads on buses?
The space on the back of my Rain Jacket is available for advertising (for a price-need $ to pay for the olympic orgy!)!
citizen
12-01-2010
too many managers
The Vancouver Public Library has 1 manager for every 10 workers, and this expensively paid staff has to have something to do.
SicPreFix
12-01-2010
As for the librarian ...
That's just sad. What a waste of an education and a good job that could go to someone with ethics and smarts rather than just another paranoid corporate shill.
anl
12-01-2010
librarians should leverage
I agree with all the comments on free speech, but if the libraries' premiere concern is funding (and not their child clients) they should try to wring more out of corporations by providing opportunities for competitors to engage in ambush marketing.
Ernest Black
12-01-2010
$$$$$
That should be the new logo.
And just when I thought it could not get worse, surprise, surprise.
But then what can you expect from the designers of 'free speech zones'.
Too late to stop it, not too late to make a big stink about the waste, and abuse of kids, mental health and aboriginals. Especially with the international media looking at us. Cities that were selected as venues have withdrawn in the past, we can help it happen in the future, and perhaps we can be at the forefront of getting rid of the IOC, and the Prov. Liberals. If that happens, then it will have been a small price to pay.
Ernest Black
12-01-2010
"I wonder if they censor what is on the shelves?"
Coming soon.
If we let them get away with this, then why not? It's good business. And this speech and thought control for politicians, once elected it guarantees that you stay in.
As an earlier comment, it really does feel like we are rapidly sliding into a Sci-Fi movie. Many were prophetic about what can happen, if we are not careful.
Ardy
12-01-2010
At least the Vancouver Library is staying open..
They've gone one step further in Whistler. Our public library is being shut down for 2 entire months so it can be used as a late-night bar for dignitaries and VIPs. They librarians are asking residents to sign out as many books as they can, to ensure that the IOC guys don't trip over any books when they've had a few too many to drink.
skarpes
12-01-2010
Remove ALL labels/Logos!
In response to this, I say everyone else should REMOVE all logos (permanently) from everything 'Panasonic' or 'Bell' that they have access to. In fact, remove the Sony ones while your at it...
These are only small infrinements on freedom of choice/speech BUT they are infringments none the less...Fight it people!
davidinBC
12-01-2010
Falling, falling, falling
I came to the Tyee for quality of reporting and that of comments offered, but this topic seems to have missed that usual mark by a fair bit. IF I understood the article, by reading the bits that weren't in the first two paragraphs, I interpret the message sent to the VPL to be solely about Olympics(TM) related events, not the general run-of-the-mill events carried out by the VPL. As such, it is reasonable for a department of the City of Vancouver to play the game by soliciting support from the sponsors of the games first! Or to specify the use of official products if a third party is purchasing (eg, if a donation is made to purchase beverages, it would be appropriate to specify sponsor manufactured product). As to the suggestion to tape over other logos on equipment or work uniforms -- that does seem to go too far. Maybe the VPL could take a lesson from Lululemon?
davidinBC
Mikemah
12-01-2010
Sponsors
I will never again support McDonalds or Coke and while I wasn't a Pepsi supporter before I am now !
Bob Watts
12-01-2010
Boycott Olympic Products I Say!!!!! GAG ME, LOL...
So only Chevy products, so all Ford and other brands of Buses are banned, that should be fun for moving people around.
Only VISA credit cards accepted, the rich should love that, no to American Express, wonder if people know that when they go to pay for a bus ticket to Whisler.
Highest Child Poverty Rate Gold Medal, goes to BC again this year. Mean while all fast food places in my town are run by foriegn workers, and the welfare lines get longer, poverty caused by the rich, go figure.....
matken
13-01-2010
Approved Brands Only
Does anyone know what kind of toilet paper VANOC says we are allowed to use? And, even more importantly, are the Vancouver libraries using this brand?
verso
13-01-2010
No Logo?
I could get behind this if we banned ALL corporate logos. Forever.
The Blackbird
13-01-2010
Maybe One Day My Fat Kid Will Go for the Gold!!!
This just reeks of the hypocrisy of the modern corporate Olympic Games. Children are being diverted into a fast food burger chain so they will eat Big Macs instead of Whoppers and drink Coke instead of Pepsi, while the athletes rarely touch the stuff.
This goes beyond preventing ambush marketing. This is using staff paid by the government via our tax dollars to drive more customers through a private corporation. Vancouver PUBLIC library? Hardly.
lynn
13-01-2010
Fahrenheit 2010
O' the irony of a library actually participating in this madness!
SicPreFix
13-01-2010
verso said ...
"No Logo?
"I could get behind this if we banned ALL corporate logos. Forever."
That would be so nice. What a thrilling breath of fresh air it would be.
G West
13-01-2010
Lululemon?
What part of lululemon's corporate strategy?
Luke
13-01-2010
And In Other News....
According to pollster Ipsos...
http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/pressrelease.cfm?id=4650
Go Team Canada!
SicPreFix
13-01-2010
Luke ...
You are quote mining to present a false impression as well as presenting a non-sequiter.
All surveys are crafted and focussed in such a way as to provide, to some degree, the results that the pollsters want, And, among other elements, an important item here is that this particular survey's results reflect specifically the views of highly enthusiastic sports fans and Olympics fans. To wit:
So, aside from the fact that the quote you mined is a spun opinion from the paid-for-hire pollster, you are in effect spinning deception and are lying, or at the very least misunderstanding the survey and presenting an incorrect interpretation of it.
immigrant
13-01-2010
Blackbird
Read my earlier post and you'll be much more outraged. What people seem to be missing about this disgusting story is that it's just the icing on an already dismal cake. VPL is supposedly short of funds. During the owelympics there will be absolutely no children's programing, unless individual librarians choose to sneak some in. The biggest irony, in this supposedly bare-bones economy? Roughly 60+ VPL employees, most of them librarians, will instead spend not only the period of the games, but a significant time before and after, away from their library duties we're paying them to do with our taxes. Instead they'll be doing "meaningful" things like greeting rich tourists outside of venues, directing them onto shuttles, etc. There's the real waste.
G West
13-01-2010
Some very highly paid provincial civil servants
Have also been 'offered' the chance to decide to be seconded (at full pay) to Vanoc for the duration...
Last time I checked, thank God, not many of them have taken up the offer and are still trying their best to keep this nearly bankrupt province on the rails while incompetent politicians waste more money than they're worth.
Stephanie
14-01-2010
Olympic Official Toilet Paper
Very good Matken! I'd like to know the official brand of "butt wipe" and all other offical sponsors so that I can boycott them permanently... We'll be paying for this fiasco for generations, not decades - betcha the sponsors won't be bailing out the taxpayers on this one....
G West
16-01-2010
I obviously don't agree
No one is suggesting there's anything wrong with a library hosting an Olympic sponsored event. It's the reciprocal of that which Ms Kavanagh (on the basis of her actual memo - which by the way I don't think the Tyee journalist has misrepresented) appears hell-bent on preventing. And that's the problem.
Had she been doing something less sinister, she had plenty of opportunity to disabuse her interlocutor from drawing that conclusion.
This is, in my opinion, a very genuine issue of free speech, civil liberties and cultural independence.
As far as what she's done in the past - in my view it's irrelevant and pointing out what she's done in this case is hardly cruel.