This just in: Corporate sponsors of the 2012 Olympics can’t make you take off your clothes—unless you and your friends all decide to dress up like giant Pepsi bottles, Reuters reports.  Organizers had to reiterate this after Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London Organizing Committee (LOCOG), told BBC Radio 4, “You probably would not be walking in with a Pepsi T-shirt because Coca-Cola are our sponsors,” adding that Nike shoes were “probably” okay.

Turns out you can wear what you want—but so-called “ambush marketing,” on the other hand, will be strictly frowned upon.  “The only issue is if large groups come in together wearing clearly visible branding/marketing,” a spokesman said, without elaborating as to how violators would be prosecuted.  Rumours that they’d be used as targets for discus and hammer-throw competitors could not be confirmed at press time…

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that they want to protect their two-billion-dollar investment (US$957-million for worldwide rights from 11 large companies for the Olympics as well as US$1.1-billion from an additional 41 sponsors of the London Games), but even if a bunch of people in the stands wanted to wear a competitor’s product—since when did the Olympics give significant airtime to people in the crowd?  Aside from a couple flag-waving clips here and there, the focus on the crowd is much lower at the Olympics than for most North American pro sports, seeing as the stands tend to be quite a ways away from the track or the regatta.  And as for having an adverse effects on fellow spectators, well, unless the rumours of seeing a Pepsi shirt making someone wanna switch from Coke happen to be true, I don’t think they have anything to worry about.  (Personally, I don’t drink cola, so I wouldn’t know.)