What have the Olympics got to do with Piers Morgan? Can I have been the only one asking this question when he pledged to donate one thousand pounds to Great Ormond Street hospital every time a British gold medallist sang the national anthem on the podium.
Seriously, what is he trying to say? Maybe his message is: “I do appreciate all the great work carried out by Great Ormond Street but I’m only prepared to support them if Jessica Ennis belts out God Save the Queen.” Come on Team GB, you’d better sing up or the kids won’t get their dialysis machine.
No, this is a blatant case of ambush marketing and precisely the kind of practice the LOGOC is at pains to prevent in order to safeguard the interests of official sponsors.
What Morgan is doing is ‘coattail ambushing’, attempting to associate a brand with an event by ‘playing up’ a connection which is legitimate but does not involve financial sponsorship.
Which brand was he trying to promote? Why, himself, of course. The philanthropic, egocentric voice-of-the-nation just couldn’t help himself.
In answer to my earlier question, the Olympics and the ways in which our winning athletes conduct themselves when fighting to control their emotions in the glare of the world’s media, is absolutely nothing to do with Piers Morgan. It was he who sought the limelight.
Of course, he’d have probably shown himself in a better light altogether had he quietly donated to his favourite causes without condition, without whipping up a Twitter storm and without attempting to piggyback off of the success of others.
