Logo promo causes seizures
From correspondents in London
June 06, 2007 05:19am
Article from: Reuters
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A VIDEO clip promoting the 2012 London Olympic Games logo was removed from the organisers' website overnight after reports it had triggered epileptic fits.
The video clip showed a diver plunging into a pool as part of a campaign to promote the jagged Olympic logo, a graffiti-like blow-up of the number 2012 in a range of colours including hot pink and electric blue.
A London 2012 spokeswoman said the concerns surrounded a four-second piece of animation shown at the logo's launch yesterday and recorded by broadcasters.
"This concerns a short piece of animation which we used as part of the logo launch event and not the actual logo," she said.
"It was a diver diving into a pool which had multi-colour ripple effects."
Critics of the emblem have described it as "hideous", while organisers called it powerful and modern.
The clip's removal follows comments by Professor Graham Harding, an expert in clinical neurophysiology who developed a test used to measure photo-sensitivity levels in animated TV material.
"The logo should not be shown on TV at all at the moment," Prof Harding told the BBC.
"It fails Harding FPA machine test which is the machine the television industry uses to test images."
He said the footage did not comply with regulatory guidelines.
Charity Epilepsy Action said there had been reports that people had had seizures while watching the animated footage.
The BBC reported on its website that a listener had rung its London radio station to say he and his girlfriend had suffered seizures while watching it.