A Word From Our Sponsor: Beaware the Ambush

A shot has been fired across the bow of Olympic sponsors. Yesterday, a coalition of Tibetan groups warned Coca-Cola that it would be "complicit in a humanitarian disaster" unless it used its influence to ensure Tibet was dropped from the torch route.

The sponsors and Olympic officials had to know the pressure from consumers was coming. International outrage over hosting the Olympic Games in a Communist country had to eventually cause issues for the sponsors. We all know the sponsors are after the nearly 1.5 billion consumers that have yet to establish brand loyalty. Why else would the IOC pick this location if not because of corporate greed?

As we have discussed earlier, the IOC had better convince the Chinese address the matter or the public relations mess will continually get worse. Hopefully, this occurrs before it’s too late. The athletes should not suffer from the political fallout from the a bad decision to take the games to Beijing.

By Jay Hicks, a.k.a. Track Evangelist.