一支三百多人的督察队在奥运期间的伦敦街头四处巡查，他们的工作并不是为了保护市民，而是为了保护奥运会的赞助商，对所谓的“埋伏式营销”加以制裁。有些零售商利用奥运会的标识（比如五环，甚至是奥运会的名称），但他们并未支付赞助费成为正式的赞助商。而包括维萨公司（Visa）、可口可乐（Coca-Cola）、麦当劳（McDonalds）和阿迪达斯（Adidas）在内的十一家公司为获得伦敦奥运会赞助商授权支付了共14亿美元。奥运会组织方收这笔钱的意思是，赞助商授权属于独家所有。

    2007年，即伦敦被确定为奥运会举办城市的一年之后，位于韦茅斯的肉铺老板丹尼斯•斯普尔被迫摘下了店铺中奥运五环形状的香肠标识，因为奥运品牌督查队威胁要对他处以高达3万美金的罚款。

    A 300-strong task force is prowling the London streets during the Olympics. Their job is not to protect the citizenry, but the Games' sponsors by cracking down on "ambush marketing," a.k.a. retailers that use Olympic branding (the rings, or even just the name) without paying to be an official sponsor. Eleven companies -- including Visa, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, and Adidas -- have paid a total of $1.4 billion for the right. And organizers mean for it to be exclusive.

    In 2007, a year after London was named host of the Games, butcher Dennis Spurr of Weymouth was forced to take down a sign depicting sausages in the shape of the Olympic rings after brand police threatening him with fines of up to $30,000.