Outlaw. It is a term that conjures up images of the American Wild West. A single person against society. In a sense, this is appropriate because an outlaw NOC pin is a pin produced by someone with no connection with the NOC in question. It also implies someone who is breaking the law for personal gain. The NOC logos are the intellectual property of the NOC, the Olympic rings are the intellectual property of the International Olympic Committee and the Games marks of a particular Olympics are the intellectual property of the Olympic Organizing Committee in question. This use of any or all of these items is clearly against international law.
Unlike the counterfeit pins discussed previously, there is no attempt by the producer of outlaw pins to copy an existing legitimate pin. These are completely new designs. At one point, we considered calling these fantasy pins, but this term seems to imply someone who is indulging their artistic skills, not a person who is breaking the law for personal gain.
Here is an example from the recent London Olympic Games:
King Kong NOC pins from Tanzania have been showing up since the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Identifying outlaw pins is often more difficult than identifying counterfeits because there are no legitimate pins to compare them to. The reverse side of the pin is often of no help either. Some outlaw pins have a backstamp while others don’t. The only case where the reverse side might help is when the legitimate pins from the NOC have a completely different reverse side design from the outlaw pins. Careful examination of the colors used on the pin (logo, rings) as well as the quality of the printing may also separate an outlaw pin from a legitimate pin.
But often the best clues come from the design. Going back to King Kong, why was this design selected? Primarily, because it is cute – one imagines that King Kong would have climbed Big Ben if he were in London rather than New York. And that is the point. Whether the fraudster plans to trade his outlaw pins for legitimate ones or sell the outlaw pins, either on the street or at an online auction site, the design has to be something that people would want. But if you think a little bit, there are all kinds of problems with this design. First, Wikipedia indicates that the original King Kong from the 1933 movie came from the mythical Skull Island in the Pacific Ocean, not from Tanzania or even from Africa. In addition, while gorillas do live in about 10 central African nations, they are not indigenous to Tanzania. So it is unlikely that anyone from Tanzania would come up with a design like this to publicize their team. It would be like putting a penguin on an American pin.
Here is another outlaw pin from London:
Flags are a common target for outlaw pin producers because “everyone knows what a country’s flag looks like”. Likewise, Jamaica was a likely target for outlaw producers because of all of the buzz about Usain Bolt. Again, just like legitimate pin producers, outlaw pin producers try to make designs that people want. But as in the case of King Kong, there are a couple details that point to this being an outlaw NOC pin. First, the United Kingdom flag is not quite right: the central red areas are too wide compared to the white borders. In addition, a “sister” pin with exactly the same design appeared for Pakistan; something that legitimate pin producers try to avoid doing.
All of this is not to say that NOCs only produce legitimate pins with designs that make sense. There are plenty of legitimate pins with nonsensical designs. However, by carefully examining a pin first rather than immediately jumping to “I want it”, you’ll be more likely to avoid the outlaws. And while we our committee is not volunteering to mount up and hunt down the outlaw pin producers, you can think of our website as a source for “Not Wanted” posters for outlaw pins.
Tune in next time for a discussion of Renegade NOC pins.
Steve