A PR problem unfolds for sponsors of the upcoming Olympics.
As usual, large sponsorships look to the Olympics as an opportunity to gain a new marketing segment and increase profits. With an international audience and 20,000 journalists expected to cover the Olympics, sponsors can practically guarantee an increase in the market share. Or, at least, an increase in brand awareness.
On the other hand, activists upset with Beijing can guarantee an arena for their cause. Activists have the opportunity to take advantage of the 2008 Games. Some of these activists groups range from The Free Tibet Campaign, which opposes China’s rule in Tibet, to Dream for Darfur, a campaign to create awareness about China’s involvement in Sudan. Many groups are pressuring China to use its influence to take action. Yet, at the same time activists groups will pressure sponsors and their corporate responsibility.
“If human rights in China don’t improve …this could be a big problem for the image of CoCa-Cola and McDonald’s as the Games approach,” says Petr Kutilek, executive secretary of Olympic Watch, a group that is monitoring China’s actions on human rights issues before the Games.
CoCa-Cola, McDonald’s, General Electric, Johnson and Johnson, Visa and many more are Olympic sponsors facing a PR bind. If sponsors ignore activists like the Darfur groups-who have labeled the Games “The Genocide Olympics”-they may risk angering customers back home. But if they criticize China’s government they may lose a potentially large market of future consumers.
With globalization on the rise, sponsors are looking to tap into the new promising market of China, but their is a threat to their success: activists.
Most sponsors will acknowledge these activists by focusing on their other charitable work, and they will stress the global nature of the Olympics. Activists groups will continue to pressure China’s government and will increasingly pressure the sponsors of the Games and their ethics.
For more information on the PR issues surrounding the Olympics refer to Burt Helm’s article An Olympic PR Challenge at http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jun2007/gb20070621_511854.htm
Photo: www.linkfive.com
The phrase “Made in China” is one that every American deals with everyday. Some may not notice the labels of the cotton under-shirt, or the silverware in their hands, or their new LCD television, but the truth of the matter is that the U.S. imports more than $25 billion from China, according to the General Administration of Customs.
