Adidas Under Pressure Over Olympic Ties
adidas is the latest Olympic sponsor to come under pressure over its ties with China ahead of this summer’s Beijing Olympics after human rights activists stormed the brand’s annual shareholders meeting.
Representatives from activist group Reporters Without Borders were inside and outside the conference room at adidas’ shareholder meeting in Fürth, near Nuremberg, to talk to participants about press freedom in China.
A statement from the group read: ‘With exactly three months to go to the opening ceremony of the games, we wanted to draw the attention of adidas executives and shareholders to the serious restrictions being imposed on journalists and human rights activists in China and Tibet. As a signatory of the Olympic Charter, adidas should promote campaigns and courageous actions in support of human rights in China.
‘adidas is a sports brand that is recognised throughout the world and its logo with three parallel stripes will everywhere during the Olympic Games. To avoid having its logo linked to human rights violations in China, the company’s executives must lose no time in publicly voicing their disapproval for the repressive methods used by the Chinese government.’
Reporters Without Borders had a similar presence at Coca-Cola’s annual shareholders meeting last month in the United States – the protests at which forced Coca-Cola president Neville Isdell to publish a written defence of the company’s stance on human rights in a number of newspapers around the world.
Reporters Without Borders bought shares in adidas in order to be able to take part in the meeting and has subsequently bought shares in all the companies that are sponsors of the 2008 Beijing Games and is planning similar demonstrations.
adidas CEO Herbert Hainer recently stated in a media interview that he had no guilty conscience about being a sponsor of the Beijing Games and in his opening address at the meeting, described human rights organisations as ‘moralists who just emit rhetoric’.
Human rights protesters have marred the Olympic Torch Relay for the past two months as it tours the world using the platform to voice their views on China’s role in Tibet amongst other human rights issues.
