Hainer Says Politicians, Not Sponsors, Should Discuss Tibet Issue
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Hainer Feels Sponsors Not Responsible For
Standing Up To Chinese Government Over Tibet |
adidas Chair & CEO Herbert Hainer, whose company is a sponsor of this summer's Beijing Olympics, said that "politicians and not companies should take the responsibility for ... standing up to the Chinese government over Tibet," according to Richard Milne of the FINANCIAL TIMES. Hainer: "If we as a sponsor had to stand up and speak against the government in China then at the next event we have to speak against the government in the U.S. because we could talk about Guantanamo, we can talk about Eta in Spain and so on, and so on. So I definitely don't think this is the job of the sports companies and the sponsors of the Olympic Games." Hainer "underscored his belief that issues such as Tibet were a political, not a business, affair." Hainer said the longstanding Tibet conflict "cannot be solved in a few weeks before the Olympic Games and therefore I definitely do believe that the politicians shouldn't shift their responsibility away because this is their responsibility and they should take it." Hainer added the Chinese market is a "very big one for us and it will shortly be the second-biggest market in the world for us, after the U.S. market. But once again, this is not the reason why we didn't speak up on the Tibet conflict." Hainer noted that the "heaviest criticism of China was coming mainly from a few countries such as France and Germany." Meanwhile, Hainer said adidas is "already one of the winners" from the Euro 2008 soccer tournament, despite Nike having more teams in the quarterfinals. adidas will earn "significantly more" than the US$1.9B it forecast (FINANCIAL TIMES, 6/19).
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| Torch Relay Remains Under Tight Security |
TORCH TO TIBET: The FINANCIAL TIMES' Mure Dickie reports China will take the Olympic torch "on a truncated trip to Tibet this weekend in spite of a continuing crackdown on dissent in the region following anti-government protests and riots in March." Torch relay organizers yesterday said that the Lhasa leg of the relay would be "cut to one day from the three planned before the protests." BOCOG is "tightly limiting the number of international journalists allowed into Tibet to report on the torch's progress" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 6/19). The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Mei Fong reports several news organizations, including the Wall Street Journal, were "denied permission to cover the Lhasa leg of the relay" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/19).
BANNER DAY: In Newark, Susan Todd reports a white banner announcing Johnson & Johnson (J&J) as a "worldwide partner" of the Beijing Games is "stretched across the entrance of a prominent office building" in downtown New Brunswick, New Jersey. The banner went up "despite headline-grabbing strife over China's policies, including violent uprisings in Tibet and unprecedented protests that disrupted the journey of the Olympic torch." J&J Exec Dir of Corporate Communications Lorie Gawreluk: "The games always will serve as a platform for discussion, but at the end of the day, the games are about celebrating sporting achievement, and from that perspective, we're proud to be a sponsor" (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 6/19).
MUST SEE TV? NBC Olympics President Gary Zenkel yesterday in a statement said the net in recent weeks has seen "significant progress" on the censorship issue for the Beijing Games. But the WALL STREET JOURNAL's Fowler, Meichtry & Futterman cite a network source involved with the planning of NBC's coverage as saying that the net has "accepted that it won't have the freedom to cover the Games as it usually does, with correspondents roaming the host cities unfettered and reporting on the local culture as much as on the sports" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/19).
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