Olympic sponsors, which have changed from Pyeongchang, quietly promote only in China

[베이징=이데일리 신정은 특파원] With less than a week until the opening of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, companies selected as official sponsors are lowering their bodies without active marketing.

China is in full swing in preparations for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics on February 4th. Although the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased and it has met with bad news such as a diplomatic boycott from Western countries, it is showing its will to make the Olympics safe.

Contrary to the hopes of China, Olympic sponsors are not actively marketing ahead of the Beijing Olympics, unlike in previous years.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 23rd (local time), Visa Card, the official sponsor, promoted new technologies while counting down through Twitter from 100 days before the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. However, there was no news on Twitter and no press release regarding the Beijing Olympics.

Coca-Cola, which aired large-scale TV commercials during the Pyeongchang Olympics, announced that it would only run advertising campaigns related to the Olympics in China. The reason was not explained.

Procter & Gamble (P&G) also launched an advertising campaign under the theme of ‘Love Beyond Prejudice’ in Pyeongchang, but stated that advertising related to this year’s Olympics will focus on Chinese consumers.

The WSJ reported that the top-level companies among the official IOC sponsors such as Visa, P&G, and Coca-Cola paid $1 billion (about 1.192.5 trillion won) in support for the two recent Olympic Games.

The reason companies are not actively marketing the Olympics even after investing such a large amount seems to be due to international criticism of the Chinese Communist Party’s oppression of human rights, including the suppression of democracy among the Xinjiang Uyghurs and Hong Kong.

The United States was the first to declare a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, and Western democracies such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia have joined in succession. Human rights groups around the world are also putting pressure on Olympic sponsors.

Sponsors are in a difficult situation. There are concerns that international public opinion is concerned about doing advertisements, and that if we do not even advertise in China, it may lead to another boycott.

However, some companies are conducting marketing similar to previous years despite criticism.

Swiss watch brand OMEGA installed a clock tower in Wangfujing, a central street in China, and launched a new model to commemorate the Beijing Olympics. Omega is not involved in political issues.

Rick Burton, who worked as a marketing director for the US Olympic Committee (USOC) at the time of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, said, “Sponsors are in a position to get through the typhoon.