The advert, which featured flashing images, was shown on channels including Sky, ITV and UK Gold.
Only six nations - Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland and the UK - have sold gold in the past five years, not least because of the negative publicity that selling gold can attract.
Historically, the reason that Germany holds gold in the UK, France and US was fear of Soviet invasion.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the world's greatest athletes going for gold in the UK - a chance for people to see their favourite sport and perhaps try a new one, " he said.
Earlier this week, it was revealed the group's greatest hits album, Gold, was the UK's biggest selling CD - boosted by the hit musical Mamma Mia!
Veterans had gathered on the clifftop overlooking Gold Beach where thousands of UK troops came ashore in the assault on Normandy on June 6, 1944.
The Good Schools Guide noted that 12 out of 41 British gold medal-winners educated in the UK attended private school. (A 42nd medal winner's educational background was unknown and a 43rd was schooled in Germany).
On "Thrilling Thursday" Jonnie Peacock's gold medal win in the T44 100m attracted the UK's biggest ever Paralympic sports audience with a peak of 6.7m viewers.
Yet for Lynn Davies - who won Olympic long jump gold in 1964 and who is now president of UK Athletics - the news represents an extraordinary backwards step in less than 10 years.
Even Martha Stewart got behind the trend last month, when she invited "nail queen" Sophy Robson, one of the UK's best known artists, on her show to create pink nails adorned with gold bows and studs.
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Gold and silver, led by crude oil, will spike if talks between the US and UK for joint military action in Libya take root.
FORBES: Gold, Silver, Oil Will Spike To New Highs If US-UK Attack Libya
The UK-based mom-of-two was stuffed into a lacey black dress, armed with stacks of gold bangles and topped with a pair of square-rimmed glasses, as if forgotten in her hair.
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