TOP CORPORATE SPONSORS OF OLYMPICS

“As an event that commands the focus of the media and the attention of the entire world for 2 weeks every other year, the Olympic Games are one of the most effective international marketing platforms in the world, reaching billions of people in over 200 countries.”
(www.olympic.org, official website)

“This isn’t charity. We’ve entered into a business transaction. We will make money. That’s what it’s all about.”
(Hugh McColl, chairman NationsBank, prime sponsor of ’96 Atlanta Games, quoted in The New Lords of the Rings, p. 289)

Corporate sponsorship has long been a part of the modern Olympics. The oldest continuous sponsor is Coca-Cola, beginning in 1928. The Olympics of 1900 & 1904 were attached to World Trade Fairs. It was not until the development of mass media & consumerism after WW2, however, and in particular, television, that corporate sponsorship really became an integral part of the Olympic industry as we now know it.
“The rise of the mass media… contributed more to the global popularity of the [Olympics] than any other single factor. Captive audiences proved enticing to commercial interests seeking to promote products to consumers.”
(Selling the 5 Rings, p. 51)

“During the 1980s and 1990s IOC members witnessed a meteoric rise in the power of the [Olympics] to raise vast amounts of revenue for the sale of TV rights worldwide and the marriage of the five-ring symbol to the products and marketing activities of various multinational corporate giants. For example, [between 1997-2000] the IOC… reported an estimated gross income of close to 4 billion US dollars.”
(Selling the 5 Rings, p. x)

Beginning in 1985, the IOC designated top-level corporate sponsors as The Olympic Partners (TOP), corporations who pay tens of millions of dollars to have their products and/or services associated with the Games. These corporations gain exclusive world-wide marketing rights to both the Summer & Winter Olympics for a specified term. Along with paying sponsorship fees, these corporations also supply products & services to Games as part of their contracts with the IOC.

As of 2008, these TOP corporate sponsors were:

1. Coca-Cola
World’s largest beverage & soft-drink company. Bottled drinks, inc. Coke, Sprite, Fanta, Powerade, Minute Maid, 5-Alive, Dasani water, etc. Coca-Cola factories in Central & South America have been involved in hiring paramilitary groups to violently repress union organizers, using kidnapping, torture and assassinations.

2. General Electric
One of the world’s largest manufacturers of electrical goods & appliances, security system technologies, police/prisons/military contracts, including weapons systems. Involved in secret nuclear tests exposing thousands to radiation, experiments on prisoners, dumping of toxic waste, supplying military equipment to Israel.

3. Atos Origin
European based information technology/communications corporation, provides video, computer IT systems for Olympic Games.

4. Johnson & Johnson
One of the world’s largest pharmaceutical corporations, also supplier of medical devices, healthcare products and biotechnology services.

5. Kodak
One of the world’s oldest, and largest, manufacturers & suppliers of cameras, printers, graphic communications systems, etc. Longtime supplier to Olympic Games.

6. Lenovo
The largest manufacturer of Personal Computers (PCs) in China.

7. McDonalds
One of the largest fast food restaurants in world, target of protests & attacks the world over for its exploitation of workers, its contribution to poor health, destruction of tropical forests for cattle industry, human rights violations, and because it is a renowned symbol of capitalist greed & consumerism.

8. Manulife
The world’s fifth largest insurance corporation.

9. Omega
A division of Swatch, maker of watches, official timekeepers for Olympics for several decades.

10. Panasonic
One of the world’s largest makers of electrical goods, TVs, video cameras, DVD players, etc.

11. Samsung
Third largest manufacturer of mobile phones, also DVD players, video recorders, computers, washer & dryers, fridges, etc. Supplier of wireless telecommunications equipment to Olympics.

12. Visa
World’s largest credit card company.

In addition, there are national corporate sponsors, official supporters, and official suppliers, comprised of corporations that pay millions of dollars and/or provide products and services to the IOC, NOC, and local organizing committees.

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