Li Ning To Suspend Sportscaster Logo Marketing During Olympics

Chinese athletic shoe and apparel company Li Ning's "ambitions to grab a piece of Olympic glory have been nipped in the bud," as the company has "suspended a coveted deal under which it had furnished clothes and shoes worn by sportscasters on China's giant state-run sports channel," according to Mei Fong of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The deal with CCTV was a "marketing coup that would have put Li Ning's logo ...  in front of the millions of Chinese who will watch" the Beijing Olympics on TV. However, Li Ning is "largely yanking its [logo] off the air during the Games." The company said that "sportscasters and guests appearing in CCTV's studio will stop wearing the logo from now until the end of August, though its journalists can still wear Li Ning gear while reporting in the field." Li Ning is not an official Olympic sponsor, and the company's "retreat comes just weeks after Beijing promised to step up efforts to prevent non-sponsors" of the Games. Ruder Finn Asia Senior Associate Ricky Wu said that Olympic authorities did not "order the company to bow out." He said that the company "voluntarily axed its biggest Olympic exposure opportunity because it 'respects the themes of the Games'" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/25).