Toyota has announced that it will not renew its partnership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) following the Paris Olympics. The Japanese manufacturer evokes the “increasingly political” influence of the event, which relegates athletes to the background.
In 2015, the Japanese car manufacturer entered into a 10-year sponsorship agreement with the IOC.
“I’ve been wondering for some time whether the event really puts the athletes in the spotlight,” Toyota President Akio Toyoda said, adding that he felt the event was becoming “more and more political” in a podcast. released Thursday on the company’s YouTube channel.
“In my opinion, the Olympic Games should simply be about seeing athletes from all backgrounds, faced with all kinds of challenges, accomplish the impossible,” Mr. Toyoda recently judged.
The automaker follows another Japanese company, Panasonic, which also ended its collaboration with the IOC.
Panasonic announced its withdrawal earlier this month, citing “management considerations.”
The electronics giant said on September 10 that it had agreed with the IOC not to extend its sponsorship agreement when the current contract expires in December.
Panasonic became an “official global partner of the Olympic Games” in 1987 and extended its sponsorship to the Paralympic Games from 2014.
But it decided to end the partnership “as the group continually reviews how sponsorship should evolve with broader management considerations.”
“Following this review, and after extensive consultation with the IOC, the parties have agreed not to renew the Olympic and Paralympic Partnership Agreement,” Panasonic said without giving details.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK also announced that it would stop sponsoring the Olympics.
This article was automatically published. Sources: ats / awp / afp
