Analysis Of The Olympic Games

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Sports, with their physical and competitive aspects, always have a way of charming people. The spectacular and grand sporting event like the Olympics is also included, as the Games are always hugely publicized and followed by many people around the world. Due to the Olympic Games being a gigantic event, it requires a carefully planned organization in order to ensure success, implicitly and explicitly. The organization of the Olympics is governed by the International Olympics Committee (IOC), who also construct, modify and refer to the Olympics Charter, a set of rules and guidelines for the Olympic Games, to make the Games to be fairer, more ethical, and more enjoyable to every party involved. In order to achieve such goal, according to the …show more content…

Sponsorship is a required element in a huge sporting event, such as the Olympics, as a large amount of funds is needed in order to prepare for the venues, materials and events, as well as to broadcast the Games on media. At the same time, the sponsoring companies can take the opportunities of being the supporters of an event to advertise their products and promote the positive values that represent their corporate social responsibility to the society. However, in a particular grand and well-known event like the Olympics, there can be questions raised about the relevance between some corporate sponsors and the values in sports. Dr. Susan Rose, a professor of marketing at Henley Business School, doubts McDonald’s, Cadbury, and Coca-Cola as being sponsors for the Olympics, as these brands own products that can be associated to obesity and tooth decay – the opposite of the values of health and sports (as cited in Smedley, 2012). Moreover, in order to directly promote their products, many companies choose to sponsor famous athletes whose characteristics and values best signify the features of the products; to successfully do so, mostly only well-known and charismatic athletes are selected. On the other hand, finance becomes an issue for less well-known athletes. Jordan Malone, an Olympic medalist in speed skating, reports that most athletes do not have full-time jobs due to huge devotion to training, and thus, have to rely on the fame that is gained through sport events, especially an event as renowned as the Olympics (as cited in Vasel, 2014). As a result, the athletes that are not signed for any brand contracts can have a difficult time trying to earn enough income. Furthermore, even for the all-star athletes: despite having contracts with the companies, those contracts can be canceled once the athletes have their reputation damaged, as

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