Pressure mounts on Olympic sponsors

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 1 February 2022

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Allegations of human rights' abuses have led to an official boycott by a number of Western governments of the Winter Olympics in Beijing this month. China has responded angrily, accusing them of politicising a sporting bonanza. The International Olympic Committee insists that sport should be above politics. So where does this leave the sponsors on whom the Olympics depend for funding? International marketing expert Allyson Stewart Allen tells us that sponsors are stuck between a rock and hard space, whilst former Olympic skiier Noah Hoffman calls on sponsors to do more to protect athletes, and British politician Rob Hayward is calling for a boycott of Coca Cola products for not taking a stand. Ed Butler presents and the programme producer is Clare Williamson.

(This podcast is an edited version of the original broadcast programme for reasons of accuracy)

(Image: Short Track Speed Skating official training session ahead of the Winter Olympics, Beijing, China, Credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi there, I'm Ed Butler. Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC.
0:05.5	Today, as the Beijing Winter Olympics prepares to launch,
0:09.0	we hear from one British politician calling on consumers to boycott Coca-Cola in the name of human rights.
0:15.3	There is a message that I'm trying to get across, which is that these companies should not be providing huge sums of money
0:22.4	to sponsor a sporting event in a country, which everybody recognizes, has appalling human rights records.
0:31.5	Yep, Olympic politics. That's our theme today. How toxic is it to be a Beijing Olympic sponsor?
0:37.7	I think for the most part, all publicity is good publicity, provided the brands themselves are very clear what success looks like for them,
0:46.0	and that they make it clear that they're supporting the athletes.
0:50.0	That's all to come on Business Daily from the BBC.
1:13.1	We're getting some pretty contrasting messages about how we should be regarding this month's Winter Olympics.
1:26.4	On the Chinese side, happy promotional songs like this one, pedal a message of peace and harmony through sport.
1:28.7	Western government officials, meanwhile,
1:35.0	aren't even attending this event. They say it's tainted by bullying surveillance and torture. The Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing
1:40.2	2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games, given the PR scene's ongoing genocide and crimes
1:46.7	against humanity in Jinjiang.
1:48.7	There will be effectively a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
1:54.0	We are extremely concerned by the repeated human rights violations by the Chinese government. That is why we are announcing
2:04.4	today that we will not be sending any diplomatic representation to the Beijing Olympic
2:10.4	Paralympic Games this winter. Well, China has responded angrily to the official boycott by
2:16.0	Western governments. It accuses them of politicising
2:19.4	a sporting celebration. But that hasn't stopped Beijing, allegedly at least, forcing athletes and
2:25.7	other visitors to the Olympic village to load spyware onto the electronic devices. Well, this is the claim,
	...

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