Almost 300 enforcement officers will be seen across the country checking firms to ensure they are not staging "ambush marketing" or illegally associating themselves with the Games at the expense of official sponsors such as Adidas, McDonald's, Coca-Cola and BP....

Wearing purple caps and tops, the experts in trading and advertising working for the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) are heading the biggest brand protection operation staged in the UK. Under legislation specially introduced for the London Games, they have the right to enter shops and offices and bring court action with fines of up to £20,000.

• Coca-Cola and Pepsi are going to modify their recipes a little bit to reduce the amount of caramel coloring and 4-methylimidazole in their colas. Otherwise, a California law would require a cancer warning label since the 4-methylimidazole in the coloring is a known carcinogen. [url]
• There was a fairly complex conspiracy theory behind the introduction of New Coke which suggested that Coca-Cola knew how badly the new formulation would taste to consumers, but that the company made it in order to replace sugar with HFCS. Bonus points for definitively debunking this conspiracy theory... [url]
• If you've ever seen a demonstration of a can of cola dissolving teeth, you might be a bit freaked out by the phosphoric acid listed in the ingredients of many sodas. But the dose makes the poison, and the concentration of phosphoric acid in soft drinks shouldn't worry anyone. [url]
• To discover more food-related links, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon. [url]  

• The science of a viral ad campaign is narrowing down the variables to factors like: congruency, emotive strength, network involvement and paired meme synergy. It's not just about combining a cute cat with a piano anymore. [url]
• Prof Jesse Schell envisions a future where video games would encourage consumers to buy stuff and behave a certain way. Would you like to play a game? Thermonuclear War Endless consumption. [url]
• Apple's Think Different campaign has a slightly different genesis story than the one from the Steve Jobs biography. Apparently, the slogan was related to "Think IBM" and was conceived by Craig Tanimoto...? [url]
• To discover more interesting advertising-related content, check out what's floating around on StumbleUpon. [url]  

• Apparently, computer-generated eyes are also the windows to the soul... A study finds that one component of the Uncanny Valley is the look of the eyes. [url]
• Would you buy a Toyota Corolla from Hatsune Miku? She's probably a bit more attractive than Mr. Opportunity, but her voice is not quite as easy on the ears. [url]
• Max Headroom pitched Coca-Cola back in the 80s, so we've been living with artificial pitchmen for a few decades now. Maybe Max was a little more than "20 minutes into the future" back then, but he still didn't see the end of New Coke. [url]
• To discover more interesting tech-related content, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

• Graham Smith is swapping the names behind various logos in an ongoing project -- that looks a bit confusing at times. Modified logos are fun -- hopefully, though, the artists behind them won't be sued for trademark violations.... [url]
• The ninth annual LogoLounge report on logo trends is out, covering 2011. This year's colors are lighter and seem to include a lot of leaves. [url]
• Graphic designers from 2007 might remember this catchy song with the refrain: "Make The Logo Bigger!" "I don't wanna tell you how to do your job, but could you make the logo bigger?" [url]
• Coca-cola is going to make its Diet Coke logo so big -- that it won't quite fit on the can. Thankfully, they didn't mess with the formula for Diet Coke. [url]
• To discover more interesting advertising-related content, check out what's floating around on StumbleUpon. [url]