Coca-Cola has become the first big World Cup sponsor to attack FIFA over the “disappointing” handling of its botched corruption investigation, according to Calvert, Blake & Boswell of the LONDON TIMES. The soft drinks brand, whose financial backing is worth more than £300M ($471M) to FIFA, "broke ranks this weekend to voice its concern." It called for transparency "amid the deepening crisis over the organisation’s attempts to whitewash a report on corruption in the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups." A spokesperson for Coca-Cola said, “Anything that detracts from the mission and ideals of the FIFA World Cup is a concern to us. The current conflicting perspectives regarding the investigation are disappointing. Our expectation is that this will be resolved quickly in a transparent and efficient manner.” Two other big corporate sponsors -- adidas and McDonald’s -- also expressed disquiet about FIFA’s "disastrous handling of the controversy last week." Adidas said that "it intended to discuss the report" with FIFA directly, while McDonald’s said it was “monitoring the situation.” Marketing experts labeled FIFA a “toxic brand” and predicted an exodus of sponsors if the crisis continued (
LONDON TIMES, 11/23). BUSINESS INSIDER's Lara O'Reilly wrote despite the very public outcry over FIFA's handling of the World Cup bidding process, most sponsorship experts do not "think a widespread boycott is likely -- despite the potential damage to sponsors' brands by being associated with football's governing body if it is found guilty of any wrongdoing, or if anything goes wrong at one of the tournaments." BrandRapport Dir Nigel Currie said, "Unless they all get together to put pressure on FIFA ... there's a question of whether sponsors have influence. I think it's unlikely they will all come together" (
BUSINESS INSIDER, 11/24).
