The Olympic Files
TITLE:Izzy meets its match
SYNOPSIS:The collective vent of Atlantans is given a voice in the work of a 44-year-old advertising executive
thomson network; 07/24/96; rbm; for: all papers
eds.: news side interest; photo to accompany story
MOVE OVER, IZZY
By SAEED AHMED
Thomson Newspapers Olympic Bureau
ATLANTA -- Olympics organizers have finally met their match.
The collective frustrations Atlantans have felt at the iron-fist treatment of their city by the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) has been vented in the work of David Chesnut, a 44-year-old advertising executive.
The result: A T-shirt with a blue, ring-tailed dog named ``Pizzy" and the slogan ``ADOG -- Atlantans Disgusted with the Official Games.''
The back of the shirt reads -- ``When you're finished, may I please have my city back?"
Pizzy is a takeoff on Izzy, the official Olympic mascot - a computer-generated image widely derided here.
``A lot of people in Atlanta are quite ticked off by the way ACOG has treated them," said designer Chesnut, explaining his efforts.
``For me, it started with Izzy, when ACOG decided to go out of town to get the official logo design, despite the fact that there are nationally renowned designers at home.
``What really set me off was when ACOG screwed up my ticket orders. That's when I said if they have ACOG, then we, the people, need something like ADOG."
Chesnut, a resident of Alpharetta, Ga., said he replaced the word ``Olympics" with ``Official" in the slogan because he wanted to avoid a copyright dispute with ACOG.
Reaction to the project has been overwhelmingly positive, Chesnut said. He has already sold the initial 600 T-shirts he printed but the orders keep coming in.
``Most people look at (the shirt) and laugh," Chesnut said. ``Some of them come up to me and say `What have you against the Olympics?' and when I tell them I have nothing against the Games, I'm anti-ACOG, they laugh along and tell me their stories."
So far, ACOG officials have declined comment about Chesnut's venture -- although a few have made their disapproval felt privately.
``We had one ACOG official come up when we were selling the T-shirts, (and) when he saw them, he rolled his eyes and snarled," said Jessica Murphy, a Georgia State University student who is selling the shirts at locations around Atlanta.
``But this is the way we're having fun with the Olympics," Murphy said. ``Besides, Pizzy is a lot cuter. At least we know what he is."
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