It's World Cup time and with my seeing red because of those infernal and wretched vuvuzelas, I'm now seeing orange. A bevy of thirty-six ladies from the Netherlands dressed in orange, to be exact.
And the skimpy orange miniskirts that got them all arrested.
The whole debacle arose when said thirty-six Dutch beauties wore a certain orange miniskirt ensemble to their Dutch side's match against Denmark. Just after the match all the ladies were promptly arrested by our ever-vigilant South African police.
Their crime? They were supposedly part of some 'ambush marketing campaign' by the Dutch beer company, Bavaria beer. Turns out that their alluring orange attire is somehow 'sneaky' backdoor advertising by the beer company. Of course, the real issue is that one of the official sponsors to this FIFAdom love fest, namely Budweiser, took offence to a rival beer company getting a 'free ride' without having to fork out all those millions in sponsorship fees to the FIFA Mafia in Zurich.
I also have a sneaking suspicion that another Dutch rival, Heineken, may also have sparked the FIFA-sanctioned arrests, given that Heineken are also affiliated with the FIFA capos via their deal with UEFA.
FIFA cried foul, stating that this ambush marketing was in defiance of sponsorship money (all to FIFA, of course), trademarks, etc. South African law, uber-capitalist to the hilt, whatever the governing ANC might say about being the 'peoples' party', didn't hesitate to put the ladies in handcuffs given our particularly strong intellectual property laws.
South African law is very harsh (read: uber-capitalist, patriarchal and, ultimately, anti-competition) when it comes to ambush marketing or any other type of 'unfair' marketing or trading practice.
As a South African I'm embarrassed and infuriated. Here we are, yet again, kowtowing to corporatist special interests and the Mafiosi henchmen of the Local Organizing Committee, yes, good ol' FIFA.
This is just plain sour grapes by the likes of Budweiser (and, let me say it again, Heineken) who've spent a fortune paying the protection racket dues (aka 'sponsorship') of the FIFA Mafia, when a much smaller brewer has come along and stolen their thunder - without having spent a cent and without a single one of their logos in view. And, of course, the FIFA Mafia having to protect their racket, benevolent godfathers of the football world that they are.
Yeah, I know, it's all business. And it stinks. Copyright legislation and sponsorship contracts and deals are strangling any initiative for ordinary South Africans to make a decent buck out of this bloody World Cup. And now not even a market-savvy and smart foreign company can try and capitalize by spending less than the big boys - even if not a single one of their own logos or brands are visible in any way, shape or form.
I believe Bavaria beer pulled a similar stunt at the 2006 World Cup in Germany and were thwarted at the last minute by German authorities at the stadium. So, they did it again in 2010, this time probably thinking that they'd get away with it if they didn't show their logos or brand. But they got 'caught out'. What a damn pity - and all power to them for having tried, even if their main goal was to obviously sell more beer of their own.
Now I see pundits on Sky News parroting at how FIFA must protect their trademarks and sponsorship deals, etc. Yeah, right. And where's the free enterprise in all of this overt protectionism of contractual and commercial 'rights'?
It makes me so angry.
I'm ashamed that this gutless host country that I call home for now genuflects with such ease to foreign, corporate interests. That's right, South Africa - show your ass. That's all you're good at doing when it comes to foreign interests that line the pockets of this country's elite and strangle any attempts to not be part of the racket.
I'm ashamed that 36 women who are guests in my country are arrested and treated like common criminals, even if for four hours or so, just because they partook in a game of corporate gamesmanship, all in the name of uber-capitalist, apartheid era legislation that only protects Big Money.
And I'm furious that a bunch of unaccountable and corrupt Zurich-based Mafia in full collusion with transnational corporations, not to mention this country's authorities, see fit to allow this to happen here in this country.
It's an outrage. And the further encroachment of just how much increasing power commercial and transnational entities believe (AND KNOW) they have in a supposedly global market based on 'free enterprise'.
This is not free enterprise. It's not even about the protection of commercial rights. This is genuflection to the highest bidder; the most extreme whoring of the entire market to those with the most money vested and, therefore, the most rights.
This is a warning to us all as to just what lengths corporations will go to protect their (self) interests. It is dangerous precedent.
Do you get my point?
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