Posted on 08/13/2008 1:27:42 PM PDT by BurbankKarl
China may be a land of crowds, but not at its Olympic Green.
Some major Olympic sponsors that invested millions of dollars to pitch their brands from elaborately constructed pavilions are fuming because access to the Green -- usually the main focal and gathering point of most Games -- has been strictly limited.
Citing security concerns, Beijing Olympics officials have turned away droves of spectators who are curious to see the Green with day passes. For the most part, the only people who have been allowed inside are those with hard-to-get tickets to the venues along the Green.
Sponsors like Lenovo, Samsung, Adidas and Coca-Cola, have set up elaborate corporate "experiences," complete with neon lights, giant-screen TVs and music acts.
But the crowds were sparse, even at 8 p.m. Tuesday, when the Games were in full swing. A small line of people stood outside the Coke exhibit, where dry ice and the sound of gurgling soda pop drifted out. Meanwhile, a giant restaurant erected by McDonald's at the end of the Green has been far from packed.
The Olympic Green is a massive space that is surrounded by Olympic venues including the National Stadium, known as the Bird's Nest, and is the site of swimming, gymnastics, archery and many other sports. As the organizers intended, it is big -- six times the size of the Green in Athens and three times the size of New York's Central Park.
Several high-profile sponsors were expecting 200,000 visitors a day and instead have seen just 20% of that, making it very difficult to justify costs that surpass $150 million, according to people close to the situation.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
ATTENTION EVERYONE!
China is a COMMUNIST country. They do not care about the marketing plans of “western” corporations.
Is Captain Obvious around here anywhere?
London will suffer.
GM is already pulling out of Olympic advertising when the torch extinguishes.
they should care, many of those products are made right there in china
Hey I am doing my part here.....I may not be checking out their products on ‘The Green’ but I sure have to endure the commercials every 6 minutes or so.....LOL!
Don't expect the summer Games to return there in the next 100+ years.
As a KO (Coca-Cola) stock holder... I didn't want my investment to flow to that hole of a country to begin with... I don't care if China is an "emerging" market - they're govt. is stoked with a bunch of West-hating, but dead president loving hypocrites.
Beijing does not care about the future of the Olympics, they care about this being a gigantic propaganda exercise for China. London can stick it where the sun don't shine.
How does the IOC wind up with idiots in charge all the time? It's worse than the UN...
elaborate corporate “experiences”
elaborate corporate “experiences”
elaborate corporate “experiences”
elaborate corporate “experiences”
That phrase kind of freaks me out.
The IOC motto: “Take the money and run”.
What did they expect?
It will be back in China in about 20 years, now that according to the IOC standards, its a peaceful democracy.
Business with China only goes one way. This stuff has been hapening for 50 years. It’s amazing how the West gets itself fleeced over and over.
I’ve been told that, as a cultural characteristic, the Chinese believe that contracts are only to be honored as long as they are reaping the benefits, and that they feel free to break them once they have gotten what they wanted.
China - welcome to the terrorist world you helped create.
Do you really think the kind of bureaucrats that run the IOC will remember any lessons they might have learned from this Olympics very long into the future.
The mantra of "yes some mistakes were made, but China is different now" will start in the not so distant future.
They will come up with an inept committee that is supposed to find ways to avoid the problems of the 2008 games. China will promise to handle such things differently. All past sins will be forgiven.
As a KO (Coca-Cola) stock holder... I didn't want my investment to flow to that hole of a country to begin with As Augie Busch once said, "a billion people can drink a lot of beer." |
Don’t forget the 2014 winter olympics in Russia. I’ve heard its off to its predictable start with Putin and his Kremlin mobsters seizing all the land in the area for themselves to develop and kicking out farmers who lived there for generations without any compensation. The TV networks. The international sponsors. The organizers. I can only imagine the bribes that are going to have to be paid and harassment advertisers are going to face to do business there. I’m sure Putin’s rents will be quiet resonable......
Not to mention all the petty criminals who will flock there to nail all the visitors.
The town of Sochi is known to have a sewer sytem that explodes on a regular basis. The mountian lift system is something out of the 1950s. The budget has currently skyrocketed over 6 billion.
Another brilliant move by the ever corrupt IOC.
Some "free Tibet" libtards caused problems earlier near there.
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