April 18, 2008
How to avoid being burned by the Olympic flame
An association with the Olympics used to be something that companies boasted about. Following protests by campaigners critical of China’s behaviour in Tibet and Sudan, exposure to this year’s games has the potential to be a public relations millstone, however.
In today’s FT, for instance, Neville Isdell, the chairman and chief executive of Coca-Cola, lays out his defence of the soft drink maker’s involvement in the Beijing Olympics. Without addressing the recent unrest in Tibet, he says Coke has for two years been “actively engaged” in Darfur, the war-torn province of Sudan.
China has been criticised for its ties to the Sudanese government, whose forces and allied militia have been held responsible for killings and other atrocities in Darfur. Mr Isdell claims it is wrong - and fruitless - to extend that criticism to those seeking to profit from the Beijing games. “Criticism of Olympic sponsors from well-intentioned people will not stop the violence in Darfur,” he declares, preferring to highlight Coke’s work in backing clean water projects in Sudan.
Professors at Wharton have been analysing the dilemma facing Olympic sponsors on the business school’s website. Witold Henisz, a professor who studies political risk management, says:
Corporations that want to sponsor the Games have to navigate the political undercurrents… but they can only do something that will not offend China. That’s a very delicate balance to strike, and it requires enormous diplomatic skill.
Prof Henisz thinks that the majority of companies are likely to err on the side of keeping Beijing happy. However, he believes that there will be symbolic gestures, such as the provision of funds to tackle pollution.
The emergence of western-style spending habits in China means that some sponsors view the games as a big opportunity to reach Chinese consumers. Marshall Meyer, a Wharton professor specialising in China, says these companies are less vulnerable to human rights protests than those focused on gaining international marketing exposure but he adds that they still might not get the brand promotion they had hoped for:
The greatest risk [for sponsors focusing on Chinese consumers] is restricted TV coverage. The Chinese have talked about but haven’t implemented restricted TV coverage of the games, but they don’t want the world, or their own population, to see unrest or demonstrations. If someone unfurls a [protest] banner in the Bird’s Nest [the Beijing Olympic stadium], the TV is going to go blank.
And blank TV screens is not what the Olympic marketing ideal is about.
The Chairman of Coca-Cola did not discuss Tibet apparently because he is facing a dilemma: going along with the lies that the western media are implicating in their reports that Tibet was an independent country, or risk to upset some ignorant readers by pointing out the truth.
There are human right problems in all China. They are no worse or better in the Tibet region. And human rights are improving very quickly everywhere in China.
Singling out human right problems in Tibet typifies the way the western media tries to mislead the public: giving the false impression that it is an ethnic problem or a problem of one country against another without explicitly making the false statement; ignoring the tremendous progress made in recent years, especially when compared with the brutal and inhuman slavery system in Tibet before the Dalai Lama and the slave owners he led fled China in a revolt against the pressure to reform the slavery system.
Your worry about blank screens is misplaced. It is possible that some people may wish to disrupt the Olympics, but they will be in the minority. It is easy just to turn the camera away from those people in the official coverage. For pictures sent through other channels, there is no point to block them, for pictures can still be sent out by tape. Even without the tape, they can still be made up or doctored from pictures taken in other places, at other times. So what is the point to block live pictures if the media try to use it to give the wrong impression that the whole world is agianst China?
Posted by: Peace | April 20th, 2008 at 3:23 am | Report this commentThere are human rights problems in China!!
Posted by: Soren | April 20th, 2008 at 8:01 pm | Report this commentReally!
But tremendous progress in recent years! Really!
If the worst possible situation was 100, and, say, Denmark was 1, China has probably moved from
100 to 96 in recent years.
China is a brutal and uncivilized military
dictatorship, slightly worse than Mugabe, who at
least is out in the open.
Call a spade a spade.
Words are cheap. You can say whatever you like. It is the action of the people who really have a stake in the issue that tells the truth.
Take the case of the quality of Chinese made products. According to official quality inspection results in different countries, the percentage of the Chinese exports that have quality problems is as low as any other countries. But the western media focused on the small number of Chinese products with quality problems and made it appear as if all the Chinese made products are the same. But at the end, it is the consumers, when they decide what to buy, tell the truth about the overall quality of Chinese products. The continued high growth rate of Chinese exports shows that the consumers are not fooled by the biased coverage of the Western media.
What is the condition about human rights in China? It is the action of Chinese people who are affected by the human rights conditions in China that speaks the truth. Chinese people across the country and around the world have expressed strong indignation against the biased reports in the western media that attempt to use human rights as an excuse to insult Chinese people and to achieve other political purposes. That should tell you whether there is progress in human rights in China and whether you are speaking the truth.
Demark is a good example that China as well as other countries of the world can learn from.
It is difficult to understand how someone can be genuinely concerned about human rights in a place while completely ignoring the voice of the human beings there and harboring strong negative feelings towards those human beings.
Posted by: Peace | April 21st, 2008 at 9:00 am | Report this commentThe fact of the matter is China has closed Tibet to all outsiders. What has China got to hide? It had more than five decades and has failed miserably. Tibetans in Tibet are not happy with the policies intent on wiping out Tibetan culture.
It is very sad that Chinese in China dont know the truth about Tibet and only know what Beijing would want them to belive is happening in Tibet.
The world cannot ignore Tibet while China continues it brutal crackdown to kill Tibetans or their desire to live as Tibetans.
This is about Tibetans in Tibet. We should not dwell on the Olympics or what Chinese or westerners think. Freedom loving people all over the world need to demand that Beijing allow Tibetans to speak freely and let the world hear the truth.
Posted by: Jack | April 21st, 2008 at 4:09 pm | Report this commentTibet is actually a complex issue. The “Free Tibet” movement tried to frame the issue as “supporting independent Tibet = supporting democracy and freedom in China”. The reality is not so simple. Based on some unofficial polls and the current strong reaction from well-educated Chinese, I think it is fair to say that a democratic China will not support independent Tibet. The rhetoric “Free Tibet = democracy + freedom” can claim their success rallying all anti-China fractions, but this united all Chinese behind their government showed that is also their miscalculation. By alienating the Chinese people in an Olympic year, the Tibet issue has lost almost all the support from the current generation of Chinese people.
Posted by: David | April 21st, 2008 at 5:33 pm | Report this commentThis a blog about management issues not politics. A manager has to take in his planning the political environment and that is what Isdell does. Coca Cola is about cresting shareholder value and that is that.
Posted by: Nelson | April 21st, 2008 at 10:58 pm | Report this commentI have the greatest respect and admiration for the Chinese people. As a former student of Public Administration Confucius is a must. China is rightly taking a relevant role in the world. As a Portuguese our relation with the Chinese in Macau was based on trade not on force.
Although “Peace” makes a good point about selective indignation of the western media towards the Tibet issue you base your argument on an assumption. That I consider biased.
That criticism of the (human rights) policies implemented by the Chinese government in Tibet are criticism made to China and to its people. In my personal opinion sometimes my government is wrong.I differenciate critics of my government of critics of my country.
As for human rights problem I am no expert so I cant say anything about it but I had an information(from a friend studying in China) about a procedure that is “presumed” to exist in the Tibetan Public Administration.
That without ever saying no, a permit (to open a business) for someone with a Tibetan name takes much longer (sometimes years) while if you are a Han or a Hui (I dont know if it well written) takes a matter of days.
And for this the Chinese people has no responsability, I wonder who?
Just a last message “Peace” Josef Goebbels said something like this:
“There cant be a good government without good propaganda nor good propaganda without good government”.
To Nelson:
People like you with a fair mind will be welcome to criticize whatever you see fit in China. We may or may not agree, but we respect and thank you for your views. In fact, the thirst for criticism both from inside and outside have reached unhealthy proportions among the populaton in China in the last dacade or so as people realized the gap between China and the rest of the world. But we have not completely lost the sense of what is well intended and what is ill intended.
I am not here to defend the government. In fact, after the painful experience of the Cultural Revolution, the distrust of the government among the population in China probably is among the highest in the world. But we will not be blindly against or for the government when we can see clearly what is wrong and what is right.
The discrimination against Tibetans, or any ethnic group in China, if true, is wrong and should be condemned. From my experience, I doubt it is true. There are many problems with the current and past government of PRC, but discrimination against a particular ethnic group has never being one of them, even in the crazy years of the cultural revolution. I hope some reporters will follow on with the issue and report it widely if found true. They will be doing a great service for improving human rights in China.
Josef Goebbels was perfectly right. I am not here to help the government propaganda machine. I am just doing my part as a Chinese citizen and a citizen of the world to increase the understanding among different people. This increased understanding is good for business and is in my own personal interests as someone that interacts with people from around the world extensively.
Posted by: Peace | April 22nd, 2008 at 8:15 am | Report this commentTo Jack:
Posted by: Peace | April 22nd, 2008 at 9:33 am | Report this commentTibetans, along with the Han Chinese and other ethnic groups, are all Chinese.
We are not going to entertain the ideas of any of us being treated as zoo animals or mummies in the museum to be preserved in the primitive state for the viewing pleasure of other people. We have the equal rights, as much as anyone else in the world does, to enjoy the fruit of modern life. The government has a responsibility to all Chinese, Tibetans included, to bring modernization to their lives.
In Tibet, the modernization is being planned and carried out by ethnic Tibetans who best know what is in the interest of Tibetan people and how to preserve and develop the culture. As most of them are sons and daughters of slaves that formed 95% of the Tibetan population before the Dalai Lama fled China, their views of what is Tibetan culture to be preserved and what is in the best interest of the Tibetan people naturally is different from the followers of Dalai Lama, the slave owners. One thing is for sure, that the sons and daughters of the former slaves do not wish to go back to a system that is ruled by religious figures who had the right to take the lives of the slaves away.
We had a painful experience during the Cultural Revolution when our cultural heritage around the country was destroyed. But that has changed in the last two decades. Just look at the skyrocketing prices paid for Chinese antiques. In Tibet, heavy investment has been made to set up universities and research institutes for the preservation of Tibetan culture. More than 98% of school aged children are offered free education that teaches Tibetan language as well as Tibetan music, dance and other forms of arts. This compares with only 5% of the children that received any education during the Dalai Lama government.
Brutal crackdown? Check out the facts before you speak. The rioters that burned people to death will be prosecuted according the law. But if there is any brutality on the part of the government, publicize it. I, for one, will do my screaming to get the wrong doers punished one way or another.
Chinese in China not being told the truth by the government? Please just think for a moment before you speak. Chinese outside of the country all over the world are reacting in the same way.
Western reporters and tourists had access to Tibet before the riots. So there is nothing to hide as far as wiping out the culture is concerned. The access was closed after the riots because the government was worried that the presence of foreign reporters would further encourage the violence and some reporters may actively encourage and instigate further protests and violence. The complete disregard of the civilian victims being beaten and killed by the rioters by the western media and the praise lauded on the criminals as freedom fighters proves that the government?s worry was not unfounded.
I am for selective opening of some selected western media that have proved themselves over the years for making a conscious effort sticking to the facts, whatever ideological difference there may be, such as this newspaper and the Wall Street Journal.
But not much is lost if the government decides to delay the access until the close of the Olympics. Tibetan culture is not going to be wiped out in a few months. For all those with a true concern about the Tibetan people, make sure that you take a trip to there and see the place with your won eyes. Talk to as many average Tibetans as possible. Talk to westerners who have spent long time in Tibet as well to get a true picture of what is happening there. Make sure that you speak out after you go back home to let people know what you have seen.
To Peace:
Posted by: Nelson | April 22nd, 2008 at 11:15 pm | Report this commentI understand your position for I like you am a patriot and I love my country. We in Portugal also have in the last 40 years been through a lot of changes. China is also a process of change let us hope for the benefit of the Chisese people and why not the rest of the world.
As for the reporters investigating the discrimination in Tibet it is not feasible. Not only for the “speficic” conditions in which a journalist works in China. But also in terms of the transparency of Public Administration. One thing is what you say (the Constitution for example) another what you do. As you well know it is very difficult to prove discriminatory and corruption practices.
I had to move from my home town to my capital because of threats against me…Because I have written a letter that implied that there was corruption in my city hall construction inspectors…I permit was denied to me and my neighbour without a permit built a warehouse!
This in a so called democratic,with an independent press, EU country…
I am sorry, I do not know you from anywhere and for you to try to sell me the idea that there is no discrimination in Tibet… Please, Peace…
I do not believe that the human rights standards that is a mainly Western imposition to other cultures are correct on some of their proposals. What for me is utmost important is that the is an equal treatment and a minimum of dignity to every person be in Tibet or anywhere else. Unfortunately that still does not happen in China and specially in Tibet.
To Nelson:
With what you have done in your own country, you can say whatever you want about China and be respected by people there everywhere you go. The government may not like you, but Chinese people will respect you and never get hostile towards you even when they disagree with you.
I am a patriot, but I am more of a person with conscience.
While we do not see anything particular about the situation in Tibet, most people in China, me included, do think China’s overall human rights conditions are not up to standard. There is a long way to go.
What disgusted people in China about the current round of human rights criticism from the Western media are hypocrisy and double standard. Organizations that said absolutely nothing about what happened in Guantanamo Bay now scream their head off about human rights conditions in China. While talking about human rights conditions in Tibet, the western media stayed complete silent about the violence done by the protestors to innocent civilians (19 killed, hundred of stores set on fire, some peopled burned to death. Interviews were done by independent Hong Kong TV station.). In most cases, The western media treated the perpetrators of the violence as freedom fighters. How can someone be genuinely concerned about human rights while, implicitly or explicitly, praising the killing of innocent human beings?
While media and western politicians appeared so upset about some rough behavior by the Olympic torch guards when the torch was attacked, calling them thugs, nobody saw anything wrong when a male protestor in Paris assaulted a handicapped lady holding the Olympic torch in a wheel chair pushed by a blind person.
While the western media love to criticize the Chinese government for not telling the truth to the people, they intentionally misled the public, sometimes telling outright lies about what was happening in Tibet. You can see some examples at the following website.
http://www.anti-cnn.com/
Not everybody in the western media was telling blatant lies, but absolutely nobody saw anything wrong with such behavior, calling it “perceived biases” of the Western media by Chinese people when reporting on the website.
I know I cannot persuade you on whether or not there is discrimination towards Tibetans. Neither do I have firm evidence that there is not such a problem in any form or shape. I can only say that from my life long experience, I have not seen one single case of discrimination against an ethnic minority group by the government, at any level. When there is a difference, it is always in favor of the ethnic minorities. For example, competition for a place in college is fierce in China; the cutoff grade is set lower for minorities than for the Han majority. Wanting to have more children, especially a boy, is a big issue in China. The one child policy only applies to the Han majority and does not apply to ethnic minorities. You may or may not know, there are 50+ different ethnic groups in China. There are congregations of Tibetans in other provinces outside Tibet. Among the Han Chinese, there are great variations in terms of the culture and the spoken language across the country.
Posted by: Peace | April 23rd, 2008 at 9:37 am | Report this comment