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Is it just me, or has FIFA completely missed the point here? Nobody realised that this was a publicity stunt for the company in question, meaning that it was obviously failing dismally. The second that FIFA made a big deal of it, it succeeded spectacularly and earned the company a fortune's worth of free global advertising. Does nobody at FIFA understand marketing?

I would rather look at a bunch of highly attractive Dutch girls than a bunch of ugly dog faced FIFA officials.

If two girls were arrested, the whole lot should have been, these girls will receive a criminal record and for what wearing some sexy clothes and brightening up the stadium.

Jeez, next they'll be arresting people for not drinking the urine that is Budweiser within the borders of SA during the World Cup.

Utter madness

More pictures of the lassies. Less chat about marketing.

Genius bit of marketing. Now with the constant publicity over the arrest, they are getting more than they could have ever imagined. The longer we write blogs, newspaper reports and generally talk about it, the better for the beer company

And no mention of Robbie Earle.
And no mention that FIFA are peeved they didn't think to tag the vuvuzelas in a similar fashion.

Nice piece anyway David!!

Bavaria beer is reaping the rewards of Fifa's stance on ambush marketing, just look at the extra coverage they are getting from the Ö÷²¥´óÐã and other media outlets. They are getting far more publicity than they could have initially hoped for!

Free the Oranjeboom 2!!!!!!!

It is perverse that the aforementioned beer brand has attracted more publicity from FIFA's reaction to their alleged stunt than the stunt itself. It is also ironic that this, rather than the paucity of wisdom, has led to Robbie Earle's sacking as a so called "expert".

What is FIFA's problem, its the greatest gift a company has ever made for there product. The dress definitely adds to the support of the dutch, now we can see all these beautiful woman in full :) And there are not brand names to be seen, i know there is a little label with the company name on it, but TV will never be able to pick that up.

When corporations and organisations get laws passed which can effectively make it illegal for people to wear certain clothes in certain areas, isn't that the final indication that they have far too much power?

How does that law benefit the citizens of the country it has been passed in?

It's a pity Fifa can't concentrate their efforts in filling stadiums, producing a decent match ball for their own tournament, and introducing video technology.

To sidetrack a little bit here they also need to look at the law which resulted in the sending off of South Africa's goalkeeper last night. Surely in such circumstances, where the foul was a very soft, non-aggressive trip where there was no intention to hurt the opposition player, a sending off and penalty kick as punishment is more than adequate. It is lunacy that said goalkeeper now has to sit out the final game.

Any thoughts??

Wrong, wrong, wrong! To make this a criminal action is completely wrong. This makes FIFA look bad. I hope the press go after FIFA because of this.

I'm loving this story, mainly because Fifa's willingness to go way over the top on this story is actually yet more publicity for the beer brand. Had Fifa not made such a big deal out of this (along with the press), nobody would even know what this beer brand was. I'm guessing this strategy was chosen by the brand with this exact thing in mind, proving that the marketing people at said brand are a lot more smarter than both Fifa and the press!

I've studied the videos and images of the "Bavarian Blondes" in close detail and I can't see the beer brand in question named anywhere on them.

Hilarious. The same thing happened in 2006. Then it was orange dungarees with a orange tail (dutch badge being a lion) large pockets to hold your beer and Bavaria emblazoned all over it.

Ordered one myself. Awesome. We were made to take them off before we entered the ground though. Whatever, I didn't mind watching the game in my pants !

Bavaria 1 FIFA 0: best match of the tournament so far.

Fifa, you are officially pathetic.
Is this what football has been reduced to? People are no longer allowed to wear what they want to a match? If the brand was clearly visible then maybe they have a point, but wearing a national colour, as a group - is that really advertising and actually a criminal offence? I think not. What's next? Imposing bans on wearing your teams national shirt at a match because you're advertising your country?
I'm thinking of launching a new Rum drink called 'Randy Rum' and then getting Andy Murray fans at Wimbledon to each wear a letter to spell 'ANDY MURRAY' then get them to swap seats to spell 'R RANDY RUM', is that an offence? No. 'Advertising' in it's most basic form is everywhere. I think the law needs to distinguish between 'advertising' (in a corporate sense) and publicity stunts, and the little boys at Fifa need to grow up.

Like so many have already commented, I had no idea about Bavaria beer or this aledged stune until Fifa made it an issue and told us all about it. Surley this defeats their own aim as the story 'they' generated is generating more publicity for the unofficial brand. Hilarious, what an own goal.

#11 - Not to mention that Suarez was offside when Cavani deflected Forlan's shot.

But agree with #8, Bavaria are the only winners here. Either they had their 'branded merchandise' in the stadium during a match, or they have the resulting furore, where they get public notice.

How long before FIFA ban those players associated with a rival soft-drink to their preferred partner. Would have meant no Messi, Lampard, Kaka, or Drogba at this tournament.

How far does this go?

Say the UK got the 2018 World Cup and one of the official sponsors was Nike?

If me and a few mates turned up to a game in Addidas gear would we be refused entry?

Wasn't it strange that Switzerland (birthplace of the FIFA President) beat Spain (one of the 2018 bidders). And I loved "If the 2018 World Cup is awarded to England" - the Russians have got this tied-up already.

Anyone fancy a pint of Bavaria?

@20 you would probably be given a non-branded t-shirt or be made to enter the stadium topless. Maybe they should have done that to the Dutch girls :))))

PrincePaolo - a video replay proves that Suarez was offside anyway (not from the original pass, but from the subsequent deflection of the other Uruguayan), and thus it was not a penalty and the GK should never have been sent off. The sooner naive FIFA introduce Video Replays the better.

Quick question: If me and a few mates decided to go to a World Cup game sporting vintage Spurs or Liverpool shirts (Holstein and Carlsberg eras), would we be ejected from the stadium under the same rules?

If FIFA want everyone to obey the strict letter of the law (sic), maybe they should start paying tax.

Why is breaking the marketing rules of a corporation an arrestable offence?

Before this incident, I hadn't actually heard of Bavaria Beer, but having just mown the lawn and read this blog, I feel like a nice cool beer right now.
I might have to study the Netherlands vs Denmark clips in more detail for a while to see if any beer comes to mind!
And I won't be drinking the tasteless low alcohol stuff belonging to the official sponsor!

I happen to drink the beverage and am delighted at the amount of passive advertising the company is receiving from articles like this.

Cheers!

That 'increasingly commercialised world of sport' will be the same one that prevented players in the England team (and of course all other internationals in the prem league) using the Jabulani ball.

Unlike the less money oriented Germans who have played with it for months and look like they have got the hang of it...

pigs fighting over the trough will always spoil it for those trying to enjoy the view

Never heard of Bavaria beer till FIFA kicked up a fuss, now I think I'm gonna track down a bottle/can to see what all the fuss is about ...Well you showed them FIFA & up your game Budweiser (or whoever the veer sponsor is), surely you should have thought of this first!!?

*YAWN* yet more negativity? Ridiculous. You just go from one negative story to the next!

At least you can't complain about the lack of goals any more. Already 8 goals with 10 minutes left in the SECOND of the second round matches.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

I agree with the general consensus here. I had no idea who they were advertising for. I thought it was some kind of set up thing, but nothing particularly untoward, I just thought someone had bought a load of tickets and all those girls had decided to go dressed alike. You often see that type of thing on a smaller scale; a few people dressed the same or whatever. Now Bavaria have spread their message far and wide without trying... FIFA have inadvertantly given them a bigger platform (or have they...conspiracy theories welcome...)
As for Robbie Earle; he doesn't strike me as the 'selling on for a profit' sort.
Maybe next time FIFA should get there first and get twenty-odd good looking women into the grounds...you never know, it might even help to fill the stadiums....

11 - im sure i remember reading somewhere that a trial was (or is) going to take place where a DOGSO (denying obvious goal scoring opportunity) offence that leads to a penalty being given would not also lead to a red card for the offender, as it means the defending team face a double punishment.

29 - i thought the German Bundesliga had a contract with Adidas to supply the match ball for league competitions? Therefore enabling them to still take the money for this sponsorship and use the new ball.

May be wrong though...

Well, based on the second round matches so far, the ball, the vuvuzelas don't appear to be limiting the amount of goals being scored anymore.

Hmm...asking the Dutch girls to remove the offending clothing...that could have been a better solution.

It's shocking how so many big corporations overreach in trying to control us when they start being successful. Check Apple, Google, etc. Now FIFA.

Will someone please think of the multi national corporate sponsors??

Jaydrawmer,

Is the a negative comment about a negative comment?

A double negative? I suppose it did somehow finish with a positive!!

Bavaria are geniuses. Whatever they get sued by FIFA they will surely recoup in increased sales among people who are delighting in them causing offence and embarassment to the most despised governing body in world sport.

Hell, I'm teetotal and I might even buy a crate or two!

In reality 34 of those girls were South Africans employed for the "exploit" by a local advertising company. They were not arrested nor charged. The 2 Dutch girls are however still detained. FIFA preys on blonde chicks....

I was at the game. They caused quite a stir in the section they were seated when they ripped of the Danish supporters kits and exposed their Orange mini-dresses...

Yeehah... Go Bavaria...

from what I can see in the photo they seem to be advertising Coca Cola

Well it was quite an obvious marketing ploy to anybody living in Holland.
How often would you see 20 or so attractive Dutch girls like that? never.
There is a Bavaria beer commercial on the air right now, which centres around girls wearing thoses dresses. Bavaria also had a famous WAG posing in one shortly before the World Cup.

Like it or not. It's obvious ambush marketing and the girls will get what's coming to them... even if they real culrpits are the people from Bavaria who sent them down.

I didn't know anything about this till FIFA kicked off about it. Well done Bavaria - playing on FIFA's greed.

And anyway, maybe they should look at WHO they have sponsoring them and not HOW MUCH they'll pay.

Fizzy pop, beer and bad takeaway food!

I love it. I will be looking out for Bavaria beer from now on. Like their style. Like th girls.

Hate that idiot Bletter...what a dodgy money grabbing suspect slimy guy. The way he laughed at the idea of the unlucky Irish having a rematch. Such a nasty piece of work.

Go Bavaria Beer !!!!! Go girls.... And SA, don't get caught in this silliness and give those 2 girls a criminal record. Throw the case our of court on the grounds of pettiness and stupidity.

I am with Mike G on this one. I had no idea that this was a marketing scam until FIFA cried about it and gave them even more marketing than they could have hoped for.

If I were to attend a game carring a bottle of Pepsi and the camera picked it up, would FIFA try to prosecute me?(Not that I am remotely as good looking as the Dutch ladies)?

I have never had the beer in question but since this row, I especially went out and bought it just to check what the hype is all about. I am sure FIFA has done the company a huge favour already by making such a big fuss.

What would be funny is that their revenues go so high that they end up sponsoring a world cup.. hahahahahaha

How is it that Robbie Earle has over 30 tickets that he didn't need? Perhaps if there were more tickets available to regular fans and less given to corporate sponsors, there'd be less empty spaces in the grounds?

As it stands I agree that FIFAs over the top reaction has gone a lot further to give the beer company their publicity than 36 annoymous blondes did.

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Met some of these girls at a Sandton Mall in the morning of the Netherlands V Denmark game and I was stunned.........and didnt even notice the word bavaria on their minis. FIFA has actually given Bavaria mileage by their action.
anywhere I havent drunk the Bavaria beer but I had a taste of the bUdweiser at the stadium last week and its one of the worst beers i have ever tasted. The price at the stadiums is a rip off and one thing for sure I wont be hooked on budweiser after the world cup.Maybe thats why FIFA is fighting tooth and nail for budweiser

I think Rupert Murdoch should sign them all up for Page 3.

In fact, I think he should tell the South African judge that that is what their punishment will be.....holding a Jabulani ball as a fig leaf and with a dutch scarf draped around their necks.......

Sure it'll make Mr Murdoch millions.........

@20 For the 2004 Champions Trophy in England all ticket holders were sent a list of food and drink products that were on the ICC advertisers list, no others were allowed to be brought into grounds.

Rule's weren't so strict for last year's World Twenty20.

I'm sorry but Fifa are just being winey little girls about this, the logo could not be seen on T.V so the stunt would only have regestered with a few people in the netherlands who were probably already drinking the beer, and the rest would just have thought they were been patriotic, and besides what right do Fifa have to say what people can wear at football games as long as you are decent who cares. Good one Bavaria Beer

I have never heard of Bavaria, nor noticed their ambush marketing when watching games, but FIFA seems insistent that everyone should know about them.

You would think if they actually wanted to protect their sponsors then they would just quietly ensure clear instructions would be given to the cameramen/editors to avoid concentrating on any such groups of fans, and none of the public would be any the wiser.

Far be it from me to defend FIFA but I can see why they're protecting their own interests;

Some of the women (and the odd bit of Bavaria beer merchandising) were also present at a couple of the friendlies the Dutch played just before the World Cup started. The cameras in the grounds and the Dutch national press picked up on the girls pretty quickly and people in Holland have since began to automatically associate them with the beer. Undeniably smart advertising.

For the rest of the world it's more like a storm in a teacup but for Budweiser they've had to pay a lot to advertise at the World Cup and probably aren't pleased with some cheapskates hitching a lift.

As for the beer itself, it's nothing special.

Nicely handled FIFA... I'm off for a beer.

There were logos on those dresses?

I looked very, very closely and could spot no logo!

@ 55 I agree Budweiser is definately nothing special...I would far rather settle down with any sort of European, Indian or African beer than drink bud...

It is one thing to restrict advertising on clothing of those playing or being paid to be involved in the event, such as players, referees, ground staff etc. But, it is quite another to restrict advertising on the paying public. In fact, there are laws about restricting competition between companies, and surely these restrictions if they are 'legal' will be in contravention of these laws! By the way, the TV in my hotel room in China had the brand name taped over because they were not an official sponsor, but as an Official for the Games is was in official accommodation.

What about all the close up's on TV of players boots as they are shooting or passing? Is that not ambush marketing as the boot makers are'nt official sponsors!!

So...an organisation as FIFA can make a government change it's law under pressure of not getting the tournament ? How far is this world gone ? Budweiser or Coca Cola don't make the WC happen, they just paid most to advertise their terrible products. A world Cup can be organised without any advertisers as the FIFA made $1.5 billion profit in 2009 !

Anyway....Bavaria all the way for me from now on.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of aggressive protection of corporate sponsorship deals, FIFA have been unbelievably stupid here. If they had ignored the "beer babes", hardly anyone would have been aware that it was happening.

By throwing them out, they turned it into a big story. Bavaria have now had a huge amount of publicity, all thanks to FIFA. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'll be buying a couple of crates of Bavaria beer this weekend to thank them for giving us all a good laugh.

It's an interesting Catch 22. The publicity was triggered by FIFA's reaction, if they had done nothing the stunt would have been considered a failure. I'm sure the fees for the agency responsible would have been tied in to the amount of press coverage received after the event.

I've seen this type of stunt being referred to as 'ambush marketing' elsewhere on the site but I thought the term generally used was 'guerilla advertising'?

#26, ouzo12:


Why is breaking the marketing rules of a corporation an arrestable offence?"

Simple, because the Big Corporations told the government to make it so. Governments usually do what the Big Corporations ask.

And before you think "but that's some tin-pot African country, at least it could never happen here", you might want to have a read of the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006. Some pretty scary stuff in there.

An ITV spokesman said: "The women in the orange dresses were clearly not Robbie's family or friends and he was in clear breach of guidelines."

what's he getting at here?...

Isn't Barvaria in Germany rather than the Netherlands? Surely it must be time for the state of Barvaria to sue the beer company for passing off on their trademark location.

I did wonder each time the camera passed this group during the game - not that I am trying to infer that the Dutch are usually an ugly bunch, but this particular bunch did seem particularly un-ugly (for want of a better term). At least Fifa in their infinite wisdom have explained to us what these girls were actually doing so we can all go out and buy some Bavaria beer. They do an 8.6% Special Blonde apparently (I am realy trying to resist making potentially inappropriate puns at this point). Anyway, I will also be refraining from purchasing any product that does sponsor Fifa (Budweiser, Coca-cola, etc) until these entirely innocent girls are fully exonerated.
PS -as for their skirts, any shorter and you could have seen their vuvuzelas.

Bavaria beer now ordered from Ocado for the weekend. I hope it's nice. Never heard of it before today.

Here's a thought - what if someone wore a club jersey to one of the games??? They'd have an alternative company on there to the 'official world cup partners'(Emirates, Chang, Samsung, AIG etc).

Does that mean they'd be arrested for this if they showed up on camera? :-)

Never heard of the beer, well you have now !!!
I am planning my ambush campaign for the Olympics and if it attracts half as much attention then I will be really pleased.

Like someone else said, does this mean we cant now anything with stripes because it will upset adi dasslers company?

What about Robbie Earl, fancy messing up so badly. Cant see him getting another shot on the box and what for, some easy money for selling his credibility... but he already did that when he started working for those walters on the other channel.

Agree with most people, Fifa have done the beer companies advertising for them. There's nothing people like more than a bit of rebellion.

It shows where Fifa's priorities lay...Will we all have to pass dress-code police going to footie matches soon?

As far a certain £175k a year football expert is concerned - how many tickets???

Nice to see FIFA have got their priorities right......MONEY MONEY MONEY!!!

#63 I've seen this type of stunt being referred to as 'ambush marketing' elsewhere on the site but I thought the term generally used was 'guerilla advertising'?

They've certainly made monkeys out of FIFA.

#67 That last line's done me head in. Nice one.

I think we're all missing the point here. More worrying is how a small time football summariser like Earle was given hundreds of tickets as a perk. No wonder he was desparate to off load them because I doubt if he had that many friends and family in total.

I'd like to find out how many tickets have been given to the Ö÷²¥´óÐã and ITV in total since we've paid for them through our licence fee.

FIFA and the IOC....Swiss type organizations and both rather putrid. Time to clip their wings I reckon.

Anyway, must go grab a Bavaria...nice cold beer

Scary, FIFA can decide who wears what at the football. for a long time the dutch have worn orange at matches, so what if a brewery gave them the clothes. I'm sure some human rights laws will be broken if fifa persue this and try and prevent people wearing what ever they like.

I went to the rowing at the Sydney Olympics and spent the whole day trying to use my travellers cheques but because they were Mastercard instead of Visa they wouldn't accept them. Dispite the fact it was 30 degrees plus and it was the only place you could buy a drink.

Not rocket science this one.

Blonde girls in short skirts = good

Beer = good

Blonde girls in short skirts advertising beer = super!

Sorry to be so simplistic.

FIFA = ?

You know how you can buy those Jack Daniels t-shirts in the shops?

Does this mean that if I wanted to go watch a football game at the World Cup, I would need to obey a strict dress code or be arrested?


FIFA need to take a look at themselves.
They are meant to be governing football, yet they refuse to allow technology be used to get correct decisions and are more interested in governing countries for profit.

The real scandal is that Robbie Earle was given 40 (!)free tickets for the match. The match tickets are already priced way out of reach for the local South African fan!

If Robbie Earle's been unlucky/daft enough to get caught, how many more pundits have been doing the same thing without getting their collar felt? Bit like the old annual selling on of FA Cup Final tickets.

Football fans tend not to forget these things, reputations damaged, and all for a quick parasitic profit.

By arresting these sexy women and making it as a big issue, FIFA has given a massive free advt to Bavaria beer which was little known outside EU. If they left them unnoticed probably it would have looked like some Netherland supporters in uniform.
Think FIFA is a retarded org.

Yeah.. I would join the Bavaria Beer Facebook group and buy a crate!

This general issue will come up again big time as we get closer to the 2012 Olympics. Wait and see. I hope it helps expose the corporate-political greed beneath the smarmy Olympic veneer. I'm betting London will outdo Atlanta and Salt Lake City for the reputation FAIL podium.

Religions can soemtimes be frowned upon even by governments for making people wear a specific type of clothing or exhibit a certain type of behaviour in public. Whether or not you think it's right or wrong at least its based on a moral belief. But corperations are allowed to make a government change the law and arrest people for wearing a tiny dress....err i mean logo... and this is based purely on cash.

The world has gone mad.

I hope the case gets thrown out of court, the girls sue FIFA/budweiser and bavaria gets massive publicity throughout the entire case.

Its a shame Bud tastes so rank or I'd be able to stop drinking it.

68 - I'm with you. ordering some now.

some people are missing the point. Bavaria is predominatly sold in the Netherlands and it is a clear marketing ploy here. During the build-up to the World Cup, these dresses took centre stage in a couple of commercials.

also, you can wear what you want to a game. unless there are 30 of you all wearing the same brand, and clearly seeking the cameras attention.

Adidas is one of the sponsors of the event, so does that mean that I am not allowed to wear my Nike trainers to the stadium? Does every visitor have to hand in their Mastercard, because Visa is the sponsor? Do they only allow Hyundais in the car park?

If FIFA had done nothing, all we had seen were a few people dressed in orange in a crowd of people dressed in orange. No one in the world would have made any connection to Bavaria. If this was indeed an advertising stunt it was a really really bad one.

I think this is more a piece of advertising by FIFA towards its sponsors, than anything else. But as it turned out we have now heard more about Bavaria than about any other beer brand. The official beer sponsor (another one starting with B, and it is not Becks) must be really cheesed off.

Never heard of Bavaria Beer before even during the match. Thanks to your Blog now I do. How much did they pay you to write this chump!!!?????

could we please have a lot more pictures, and a lot less Blatter. Really it is time to put the guy out to pasture. Mind you Plattini seems to be moulding himself in a similar fashion

Perhaps if the stadiums were full, there wouldn't be an opportunity for ambush-marketing.

What amuses me the most is that no self respecting Dutchie would even consider drinking Budweiser...so all in all this stunt didn't cost the guys at Bud a single penny.

I get the feeling the FIFA is just trying to make a point here to anyone else that might consider such a stunt and that they'll eventually let the pair go. Here in the Netherlands FIFA hasn't even got into contact with Bavaria about this incident...that just odd!

#86, John Hudson:

"If FIFA had done nothing, all we had seen were a few people dressed in orange in a crowd of people dressed in orange. No one in the world would have made any connection to Bavaria. If this was indeed an advertising stunt it was a really really bad one."

Possibly. But more likely it was actually a very clever stunt, if Bavaria had calculated all along that their girls would get thrown out of the ground in a huge blaze of publicity. Expect to see a lot more of this kind of thing at the London Olympics, now it's been proven to work so spectacularly well.

I hope the girls are ushed into Court with a fanfare of vuvuzelas.
Surely FIFA have better things to worry about like the sniper who clearly shot Suarez just as he was tackled last night. Surely only a high powered rifle could have produced such a OTT reaction to the contact made with keeper.
Perhaps there will be footage akin to the "grassy knoll" showing just who fired the bullet.
Perhaps not in keeping with the ethos of the event but I'd like to nominate Urguay's number 9 as the most pathetic cheat in this year's World Cup so far!

Fifa think they own football, well they don't. It was invented in England, maybe we should licence it to Fifa to plug the hole in our public finances? It's our game and you cant play anymore- and you can keep the idiot ball and idiot trumpet. In fact, why stop there? Let's charge rights for Football, cricket, rugby, golf, etc etc- seeing as we invented those too. Let's see how Blatter likes running the 'Boules world cup 2014'.

These girls ate the ones pictured in thsi photo are they; the ones waving the coca cola flags?

Erm...

It's an interesting case, the dresses didn't have any logo or print and were just plain orange. Because they did the same during the final warm-up match here in Holland, the Dutch viewers would probably make the connection with the brand. In the end it wás a marketing plan so they could make a case build on that. Why there are blaming the girls instead of the brand is beyond me, let them sue the company, not the individuals.

So, can I attend the final in my Guiness hat, London Pride tee shirt and with my Glenmorangie vuvuzela?

NO!

Damn - will have to stay home and watch the golf on tv - at least no-one will cheat!!

FIFA...do we really want this tawdry money grubbing organisation in our country??

I think the girls should try and do it again but ofcourse they would have to watch the game in their underwear as they would be told to take off those nasty little orange dresses. No mention of beer anywhere, no arrests, loads more publicity for Bavaria, FIFA look dicks and we can trust the TV cameras to give us an absolute feast..........total football or what WIN WIN WIN !!!!!

Purely because of all the fuss, I'm going to have to get some Bavaria.

I feel they missed a trick though - they should have been ready in advance and had the two young ladies both change their names to Bavaria Beer. Just as an extra reminder of what the beer is when they got arrested for wearing orange at a Dutch match.

Silly old FIFA, snouts in troughs etc.. I shan't lose sleep for any of the parties in this story (though I hope Bavaria sort legal support for the women) but, I was concerned to hear that the same overblown idea of 'commercial rights' has been applied to ban street trading in a wide area around the world cup stadia.
My guess is that large numbers of South Africa's people could have benefited economically from informal street trading and only a few from franchised activity.
The 'people's game'?