Anybody watching?

What Olympics? Advertisers lie low ahead of Beijing Winter Games
[www.reuters.com]

(Reuters) - Just a week before the opening ceremony of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, U.S. television viewers can be forgiven for forgetting the date, or even that it is taking place in Beijing, China.

Unlike any Games in recent memory, the nearly 20 official international and national Olympic sponsors have laid low, ducking the press and viewers by holding back on the advertising blitz that typically kicks off months ahead the "let the Games begin" pronouncement.

By Wednesday, only two spots had launched, both of which focus on athletes with no mention of the host country, with which the United States is feuding on diplomatic and economic fronts.

Over the course of the Games, ad agency executives and advertisers told Reuters that viewers should expect ads to continue to downplay the location and ignore any hint of politics to avoid drawing attention to geopolitical conflict and the hot glare of the Chinese government.

Corporate sponsors and advertisers for the Beijing Olympics, which begin on Feb. 4 and run through Feb. 20, have come under fire for what human rights groups say is the enabling of China’s alleged abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the country. China denies those allegations.

Global Olympic sponsors were grilled by a bipartisan congressional panel in July, which accused the companies of putting profits ahead of accusations of genocide in China.
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When Reuters asked the global and Team USA sponsors about marketing plans for the Olympics, only two responded, one of which declined to comment.
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He said his clients decided to strip from their campaigns mentions of traditional Olympic themes - friendly competition, global unity and good sportsmanship - shortly after the Biden administration announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics last month.


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BIG DEPARTURE
This year’s response is a big departure from Olympics past, when advertisers crafted ads that embraced the spirit of the Games and honored the culture of the host country.
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Focusing on the athletes competing on the global stage is considered the safest strategy for brands, experts said.

“We’re trying to steer clear of the geopolitical implications around (the Olympics),” said Chris Brandt, chief marketing officer at Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (CMG.N). Chipotle will run ads during the Olympics promoting “real food for real athletes,” and feature the preferred orders of competitors like U.S. ice hockey player Hilary Knight.

Any attempt for a brand to associate themselves with the Beijing Olympics could backfire, DiMassimo said. “You just don’t know. You put (the commercial) on, and it might explode.”



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2022 06:46PM by Steve G..

American athletes were reportedly told to use burner phones in Beijing due to a 'unique opportunity for cybercrime' at the Winter Olympics

[www.businessinsider.com]

Olympic athletes on Team USA have been told to use temporary "burner" phones while in Beijing due to cyber security and surveillance risks, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee reportedly notified Team USA in December that "every device, communication, transaction and online activity may be monitored. Your device(s) may also be compromised with malicious software, which could negatively impact future use."

The advisory is one of several security warnings athletes received ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics that begin on February 4.

A University of Toronto cybersecurity watchdog recently discovered that China's mandatory app for Winter Olympics athletes has serious security flaws and can ban keywords that are critical of China or comment on Uyghur oppression, The New York Times first reported.

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San Antonio, TX (in the old city)


"All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
“Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." - Eli Weisel

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." - Theodore Roosevelt (1918)

"I don’t want to see religious bigotry in any form. It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it." - Billy Graham 1981

"Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise" - Barry Goldwater

golf clap and slight head nod for China!

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“A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand.” Seneca the Younger

The police have no duty to respond. See Castle Rock v. Gonzales, 545 U.S. 748 (2005) or Warren v. District of Columbia[1] (444 A.2d. 1, D.C. Ct. of Ap. 1981)

Judge Lee wrote that “we cannot jettison our constitutional rights, even if the goal behind a law is laudable." 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

[www.youtube.com]

Media is real sensitive to cybersecurity and surveillance as well. At least our company is. We are sending a sports reporter to the Olympics, he also was issued a burner phone, and his laptop was wiped clean and a new install of the OS and only certain apps that he needs to do his job were added. All connections to corporate networks was removed, the only way he can send video back is through a third party application that the producer at the station has to retrieve. After the Olympics, his laptop will again be sent to corporate's IT department to have it wiped thoroughly and with another new install of Windows before he gets it back.

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The arts are not luxuries but assets that give way more than they cost.
--Ronald Tucker on YouTube

A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it is not open.
--Frank Zappa

hard to believe that the games are going forward... FRIDAY

All of the Western countries should have gotten together to host various Olympic Events. The embarrassment to the regime would have been unbelievable. It would have also created a unique Olympic Event in unusual times. I realize that it wouldn't be the same as past Olympics but sometimes one needs to shake stuff up.

I would laugh if they had a heat wave and melted all of the artificially generated snow so much that no skiing or snowboarding events could take place.

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The arts are not luxuries but assets that give way more than they cost.
--Ronald Tucker on YouTube

A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it is not open.
--Frank Zappa

Letting China host the Olympics and Qatar host the World Cup is living proof that these enormous "sport federations" are just big ol' greedy corporations. It's a disgrace.

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That said, living in a ski town, I know several of the athletes very well. Two of them I have known since they were 11 or 12. Their whole life has been focused on making it to the Olympics. If they wait four more years to avoid the current Olympics, they would almost certain age out and not be competitive in four years. For their sake, I hope we can normalize it as much as we can.

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“Live your life, love your life, don’t regret…live, learn and move forward positively.” – CR Johnson
Loving life in Lake Tahoe, CA