Olympics events always draw the eyes of the international community. Olympics in Russia, or the Soviet Union, even more so. The Moscow games were held amidst an occupation of Afghanistan, a heated Cold War environment and prominent boycotting on both sides of the Iron Curtain. This year’s winter games set to begin tomorrow in Sochi are not that heated on a political scale. However, they have drawn criticism due to Russia’s intolerant stance toward gay rights.

While this has caused perennial brand sponsors of the Olympics to rethink their brand’s association with said controversy, Channel 4, the official broadcaster of the Paralympics, is taking things one step further.

It will rebrand its on-screen identity for 7 February from the standard black and white mark to adopt the colours of the gay pride flag. The company is also running it’s cheeky ‘Gay Mountain’ ident this week. This move is the result of the station showing its support for athletes' rights in the face of some significant discriminatory Russian laws.

Chief marketing and communications officer, Dan Brooke says, “This is a typically Channel 4 way of celebrating the start of the Winter Games and showing our support to all of the athletes out in Sochi, gay or straight.”

The rainbow logo has also been implemented on the 3D Channel 4 sign outside the broadcaster’s Victoria headquarters.