LONDON, June 6 The controversy over a graffiti-like logo for the 2012 London Olympics intensified Wednesday with a call by London's mayor to stop payment to the designers.
The logo, which critics said looks like the work of a 5-year-old child, took nearly a year to design and cost $800,000.
"Don't pay the designers," said Mayor Ken Livingston. Internet sites in Britain were flooded with alternative designs offered by the public hours after the logo was unveiled Monday, the Daily Mail reported. More than 35,000 people signed an online petition demanding a new logo.
The newspaper said flashing images in a promotional video for the Games shown on the BCC and ITV had triggered epileptic seizures in at least 10 viewers, raising the prospect of legal action. The video was removed from the Web site of Locog, the organizing committee for the 2012 Games.
"We are looking into what happened at the moment," a Locog spokeswoman said. "We were given assurances that the footage was OK to be shown."
Copyright 2007 by UPI
