45,000 sign petition against Olympic logo

NEARLY 45,000 people have so far signed a petition demanding London's 2012 Olympics logo be scrapped, organisers said Wednesday amid alarm after the animated version triggered epileptic fits.

The online petition [at GoPetition.co.uk] was launched after the jagged, multi-coloured emblem was launched on Monday by former Olympic athletics champion Lord Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London 2012 organising committee.

The committee has rebuffed criticism that the logo, which cost 400,000 to design, is "puerile" and "hideous," saying it is meant to be "edgy" and that people will get used to it.

But detractors have continued to flood websites with their own alternative proposals. By Wednesday afternoon some 43,400 people had signed a Change the London 2012 Logo petition, according to an online tally.

The row took another twist on Tuesday when it emerged the initial animated version of the logo included flashing lights had triggered epileptic fits in many people.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone said on Wednesday he would not pay the company which produced the video.

"I wouldn't pay them a penny. Who would go to a firm like that again to ask them to do that work? I mean, this is a pretty basic thing," Livingstone, who has been muted in his comments on the static logo, told the BBC.

Support group Epilepsy Action issued a statement saying "numerous" people had reported seizures as a result of watching the video.

"The animated footage could affect the 23,000 people in the UK who have photosensitive epilepsy and may also affect other people who do not yet know that they are photosensitive," it said.

"We are concerned that the animated footage will not just be shown in the UK, where half a million people in the population have epilepsy, but it will also be shown all over the world.

And it added: "People can strive for years to gain seizure control and it is important that nothing puts this at risk."

Coe, the former 800 metres and 1,500 metres world record holder who won gold in the 1,500 metres at the 1980 and 1984 Olympics, has defended the logo designed by the Wolff Olins branding agency.

"It won't be to be everybody's taste immediately, but it's a brand that we genuinely believe can be hard working... and reach out and engage young people, which is our challenge over the next five years," he said on Tuesday.

"It's not a logo, it's a brand that will take us forward for the next five years."

Source: AFP & The Australian