Shop Direct boss Mark Newton-Jones carried the Olympic torch in Liverpool – with the same story as seven other adidas torchbearers
Retail boss Mark Newton-Jones is the latest executive to emerge as one of adidas’s Olympic torchbearers – with the same nomination story as seven other torchbearers.
Mark’s name was added to the London 2012 torchbearers site after we reported on adidas nominating company bosses with identical stories last month.
Newton-Jones is the Group Chief Executive of Shop Direct, the country’s largest catalogue and online retailer. He joins other executive nominees from adidas including the Group Product Director of Next and the general manager of Intersport.
Newton-Jones’s nomination provides continuing evidence that adidas ignored LOCOG guidance not to nominate executives.
Retail Week reported on the Shop Direct boss carrying the torch in Liverpool in a brief article, which repeated elements of his nomination story.
A spokesperson for adidas said that the organisation were not able to give torchbearer places away to consumers. They had “no further comment” on the use of identical nomination stories or the decision to award places to executives.
