To show their support for the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games, Carrefour stores in Beijing asked their employees to wear clothing with China's national flag and hats with the Olympic Game logo. However only days after they began, they have been asked to stop wearing the hats by Beijing Olympic Games Organization Committee who say the company did so purely for marketing reasons.
According to Xinhua, a representative from the Carrefour Guozhan Store said they were given the clothing and hats on April 26 and were told that the cost for each of the hats was RMB80 and the cost for the jacket was RMB200.
A representative from Carrefour Northern Region's PR Department said in an interview that as it was the 100-day countdown to the Beijing Olympic Games, the company hoped to express their support to the event with the new clothes and the hat. However, BOGOC said that Carrefour has violated the relevant rules by printing the Olympic logo on the hats.
All the Carrefour stores had asked their staff to take off the hats by the end of April 28.
