Locog u-turns on charity ad refusal during Games 1

Fundraising | Vibeka Mair | 13 Jul 2012

Cricket charity Chance to Shine has been told that Locog’s refusal to allow it to advertise at St John’s Wood tube station during the Olympics because it is a charity was a “mix-up” and that it can apply to have ads during the London Games.

However, the charity, which is planning to send off its application today, will not know till next week if it has been accepted.

For the last two years, Chance to Shine, a charity which supports cricket in state schools, has advertised its cause at St John’s Wood station just before the test match at Lords to raise awareness with cricket fans. Last year one such ad resulted in a £7,000 donation from a donor.

However, when Chance to Shine got in touch with a booking agency to book space at St John’s Wood this year, it was told Locog had the final say as the station is an Olympic venue station. Chance to Shine was informed that Locog didn’t want charities to advertise during the Olympics – which ends four days before the test match begins at Lords.

A Chance to Shine spokesman said it had asked the booking agency for contacts at Locog to discuss the issue, but were told that the agency was not allowed to provide any names.

Coverage in the national press seems to have tamed Locog, who have now described it as a “mix-up” and have said Chance to Shine can apply to advertise during the Games.

A Chance to Shine spokesman said: “The Olympics is an amazing sporting legacy. It seemed odd that a sporting charity was blocked from advertising by Locog. Maybe it was a mix-up. We’ll see what the results from our application will be.”

Locog did not respond to enquiries by deadline.

Place a comment

Simon F
13 Jul 2012

"Coverage in the national press seems to have tamed Locog" - at present there seem more examples of an untamed Locog than the contrary. It is frightening how we create entities such as Locog that then operate with seemingly limitless powers, total autonomy and little regard for the ordinary person or charity.

[Reply]

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.