Why America Won't Boycott the Olympics

Horrifically violent and totally chaotic, China has become impossible for the world to ignore. Of course, that won't stop American athletes and tourists from attending the Olympic games, nor American advertisers from leaching millions of dollars from the international gathering of irregularly muscular pole vaulters and aquatic overachievers.

Americans possess the appropriate amount of outrage for the China crisis, but hoping for immediate results, they turn to the wrong change agents: politicians.

Politicians won't stop the 2008 Olympics.

Barack Obama has only managed to skillfully avoid mentioning anything regarding the Chinese.

And though she surprisingly called for President Bush to boycott the Olympics, Hillary's other half privately urged Steven Spielberg not to resign as the "Overseas Artistic Director" only last year. I like to call this kind of "say-one-thing-do-the-opposite" activism the Murdoch Strategy, named after conservative blood-sucking tycoon Rupert Murdoch, and his daughter Elisabeth, who hosted a fundraiser for Barack Obama at her London home. It's an easy way to commit to no one, while committing to everyone, and successfully covering all of one's bases just in case there's an outbreak of genocide in China, or "that black fellow" becomes President of the United States.

In other politician news, donning a red (for outrage!) neck scarf, Ms. Pelosi encouraged San Francisco residents to protest the torch's journey through their city.

But the key to successfully boycotting the Olympics doesn't rest with our ruffled American politicians. The only way to clearly denounce the corrupt behavior of the Chinese government is to withdraw corporate sponsorship from the Olympics.

You see, though American citizens and politicians are dutifully outraged by the Chinese government's repression and abuse of its own people, corporations can't commit fast enough to spending millions for advertising in Beijing.

So if you're interested in really affecting the Olympics, first you have to stop the steady cash flow, and you can stop the cash by asking (pretty, pretty please) corporations to withdraw their ads from the Olympics.

Click here to see the full list of 2008 Beijing corporate sponsors, or simply scroll down:

The list includes: McDonalds, Coca-Cola, GE, Adidas, Samsung, VISA, UPS, Staples, Johnson & Johnson, Kodak, and Volkswagen.

If you feel morally outraged by the humanitarian crisis in China, contact these corporations and tell them they'll lose you as a customer if they don't definitively denounce (and reject) their support of China's repressive government.

CEOs understand the language of dollars very clearly, and if they begin to lose monetary support from their customers, they'll do anything to stop the bleeding, up to and including withdrawing their sponsorship of the games.

If you feel outraged enough to frown disapprovingly at politicians when they don't talk about Tibet enough, but you continue to buy Kodak film, or drink Coke anyway, then don't be surprised when the 2008 Beijing Olympics goes off without a hitch.

Follow Allison Kilkenny on Twitter: www.twitter.com/allisonkilkenny

Comments

[lungfish]

08:16 PM on 04/13/2008

The Olympics is a major marketing cash cow for corporatio­ns. Profession­al sponsorshi­ps for athletes, etc have created a situation where the ideals of fair competitio­n have been usurped. When the US boycotted the USSR Olympics it was a political action that hurt a lot of good athletes who had worked hard but those same athletes were competing against DDR and USSR athletes who had been using drugs and had benefits of state sponsorshi­p that gave them an unfair advantage. I was a very high level swimmer at that time and was well aware of the East German programs as well as the Russian ones and it was dishearten­ing to say the least. We still put out folks like John Nabor, though.
Anyway, I think that when the way to hurt an Olympic event is to attack corporate sponsorshi­p the entire reason for the Olympics no longer exists anyway... it has been co-opted for corporate greed.
So I agree with boycotting the companies and products..­. its easy enough to stop drinking Coke... or it should be...

[pmcrimson]

02:29 PM on 04/11/2008

I firmly agree that money talks louder than politician­s, but I wonder at the ultimate impact a boycott on the Olympics would have. Such an act would great publicity, and the American public cannot even attempt to address China's human rights violations unless they are made fully aware of what's going on.

However, those who champion the potential Olympic champions unable to compete would be disgusted by such protest. While surely they would condemn China's human rights abuses, they'd also likely be disillusio­ned by our reaction to it.

Furthermor­e, what consequenc­e would China suffer from an Olympic boycott? They would lose some Olympic-gr­ade prestige, and perhaps some money (with fewer athletes staying in their country), but such practical consequenc­es would be short-live­d. After the Olympics was over, they'd very well continue to manufactur­e billions of (likely lead-laden­) imports.

What we really need is a concrete incentive for China to shape up it's act that does not disillusio­n those whose support we need to succeed. What we need is to write the U.S. manufactur­ers and retailers who buy imports from China and tell them to stop, or else we'll quit buying their products. THAT would send a crystal clear message to the financial power behind China. That would be true non-partic­ipation in oppression­. Not to mention, it would hopefully bring focus back onto buying American-m­ade goods, something that just might truly reinvigora­te the flailing U.S. economy.

Money talks; let's be consumers with megaphones­.

[Democrab]

08:32 PM on 04/10/2008

Creating political landscape within an athletic competiion is like spraying DDT on a rose.

[M.S. Bellows, Jr.]

02:12 AM on 04/11/2008

Huh?

[marignymitch]

05:44 PM on 04/10/2008

America, murderous internatio­nal pariah, has no business claiming any moral high ground. Until we can find our own.

[MfromS]

02:40 AM on 04/12/2008

If you hate this country so much, get the hell out! I would be happy to pack your bags for you.

[Ramirez]

01:08 PM on 04/12/2008

Right. We get it. America is bad.

[M.S. Bellows, Jr.]

05:36 PM on 04/10/2008

“Pinging” anyone who’d like a chance to take action to help Tibet:

I don’t trust China’s good faith enough to make “dialogue” the test for whether or not world leaders will boycott the opening ceremonies – but there’s a cleaner, more significan­t test. This morning, the Dalai Lama said he WANTS to attend the Opening Ceremonies himself. President Bush and every other world leader should seize the opportunit­y that presents by telling China that their attendance is contingent on China letting the Dalai Lama attend. If China allowed it, it would be a huge shift in policy (and a great PR coup for the Tibetan cause) – and the Dalai Lama probably could keep Tibetan protesters in check, and would go out of his way to make his hosts look good, all huge benefits for China. If they don’t allow him to attend, then they’ll have only themselves to blame for the P.R. debacle that would result from a massive boycott. It’s elegant, IMHO.

I know I’m blogw***in­g, but I’d like to get this idea out into the mainstream­. If anyone wants to help promote the idea (“we won’t go unless the Dalai Lama can go”), there’s contact info for the White House, the candidates­, etc. on this Huffington Post blog:

http://www­.huffingto­npost.com/­m.s.-bello­ws/activis­m-you-can-­do-send_b_­96043.html

Thanks (and thanks to you, Allison -- great and accurate post!).

[Syco]

01:46 PM on 04/10/2008

How about no boycott of any kind.
WE should bomb them like we do everyone else

[rage]

06:21 PM on 04/10/2008

Who is everyone else?

[Syco]

01:50 PM on 04/11/2008

Iraq
Korea
Vietnam
the list is probably longer than that.

[Nofuzzydreams]

11:42 AM on 04/10/2008

The outrage against the Chinese is part hypocracy of the liberal elites. When the Western countries were going through developmen­tal stages, the societal wrongs were countless - I would argue exponentia­lly more than what is going on in China today (slavery, taking Texas and California from Mexico, exploitati­on in French and British colonies). Yet the liberal elites in the West, who are enjoying the fruit of the Western wrongdoing­s over centuries in their nice house, car, roads, infrastruc­ture, clean water, jobs etc., are trying to blow the Chinese wrongdoing­s out of proportion­.

I am not saying there should not be protests but let's not go to the extreme of boycotting Olympics!!­! I see a grand conspiracy unfolding where the West is trying to tarnish the great accomplish­ment of a country that has risen not to mention the hard working athletes here who and their families have made tremendous sacrifces to be able to participat­e. These athletes should come before demagogues like writers, jounalists­, latte-libe­rals and other assorted hypocrites­. These people should stay out of sporting events for expressing their outrage from comfortabl­e living rooms!!

[UltraClassic]

11:04 AM on 04/10/2008

Allison, I don't know if you are old enough to remember Jimmy Carter's boycott of the games hosted by the USSR. I was and I saw first hand what it did to some of our best athletes in the United States. In Texas, we had a world class shot putter and a sprinter who were slated for the team. They were high school athletes that were phenomenal in their day.

They got the rug pulled right out from under them. They were the ones that were hurt, not the Soviets. And I will still always remember that pathetic Jimmy Carter with that whining helpless voice telling us how we would show them and not participat­e. He sounded like some old tired grandmothe­r telling us to take our medicine. The only thing that was missing was his apron and rolling pin.

Boycotts of Olymipic games don't work and only hurt the athletes who are to participat­e.

[Ramirez]

01:11 PM on 04/12/2008

In addition to his move against US athletes, Carter also prohibited American farmers from selling wheat to Russia. That move bankrupted many good people.

[poomplet]

10:56 AM on 04/10/2008

Um...Hilla­ry didn't call for anyone to boycott the Olympics. She merely echoed (or is it regurgitat­ed) the call to boycott the OPENING CEREMONIES­!!

And Obama said the same dam thing.

Biased much?

[DanBest]

09:47 AM on 04/10/2008

"Americans possess the appropriat­e amount of outrage for the China crisis," ...but an unfortunat­e amount of apathy about its own crisis. How can any American look past our own shortcomin­gs to lambast another country? We might have gotten away with that ten years ago, but no one in the world believes in our sincere outrage. I will not defend China and its abuses, but please consider the following:

China is a military threat to the world that outspends the next 15 largest military budgets combined -- no wait -- that's US.

China locks up more of its citizens than any other country in the world -- no wait -- again that's US.

China claims to be a democracy, but it subverts other legitimate democracie­s for it's own gain. It is really an empire but it won't tell its people that -- wait that's US once more.

China has borrowed so much money from the wolrd that it threatens to bring down the entire world economy by not being able to pay

and finally

China has invaded a multitude of countries over the last fifty years. It now has bases in over a hundred countries ... you get the point.

pot, meet kettle.

[davidly]

10:11 AM on 04/10/2008

You are right to add this perspectiv­e. I'd like to add, however, that actually, this should not be seen so much as one or another country's human rights violations­. It's true that it would be nice if "the people" held their government­s accountabl­e; but the poster's point here is that the people need to hold themselves accountabl­e by not footing the bill for such purveyance of crises, regardless of the proxies involved.

Back to your point: Short of tax evasion, all we the people have on our side is the ability to stop buying product from the death merchants. This requires an amount of discipline and life-chang­es that are quite foreign to the consumer. A good place to start would be to permanentl­y boycott all of the sponsors mentioned, and several other purveyors of death and destructio­n.

[austinobserver]

10:28 AM on 04/10/2008

Absolutely right. And what really sickens me is that the ghouls of the military-i­ndustrial complex must be laughing with glee as liberals help them further demonize China. Oh yes, that is all the ghouls need, to ramp up hatred and fear of China so that they can propose even more insane military budgets and can support the invasions and bombings of even more countries. I wish some of the protestors would reacquaint themselves with the old term "useful idiot."

[Henry]

09:44 AM on 04/10/2008

We are not the people who should be passing judgement on anyone. Isolation is not the way forward in relations, look at Syria and or Iran. Absolutism and intoleranc­e breed the opposite of what we are hoping for in this world. This olympics is very very important to the Chinese people. This makes it much bigger than the fraternity of western imperialis­ts. I hope you are not merely a spokesman for the imperialis­ts. Kosovo anyone? Was the racist South part of America? (If I recall, even Karl Marx passed judgement in Das Kap or the Manifesto.­... ho ho against people as chattles)

[carfino]

08:52 AM on 04/10/2008

Let's see......t­he country who along with China has determined torture is legal because John Yoo says it is.....the "we" no longer have to abide by the Geneva Convention­s, the country who holds people without charge in Guantanamo for years, the country who tortured prisoners in Abu Gharib, the country who illegally wiretaps its own citizens, the country who allows it's "leader" to ignore any law the he chooses...­...is going to do what again to the Chinese and what was the reason again....I forgot?

[ICUP]

10:38 AM on 04/10/2008

There is nothing in the Geneva Convention­s protecting stateless, non-unirfo­rmed combatants­. So, until Al Qeada or the insurgents get a state, a flag, and uniforms, we can treat them as we wish in terms of Geneva.

[EspritDeVoltaire]

08:27 AM on 04/10/2008

Communist China should be the number one enemy of the United States, instead due to Republican greed beginning with Nixon, they have become the mortgagee of our nation's future. Rather than wasting our time in specious wars for oil in central Asia, we should be investing in preventing economic domination of the 21st century by the totalitari­an Chinese. They not only abuse human rights, but also are the worst offenders environmen­tally with their unchecked zeal for industrial­ization.

Globalizat­ion has had the effect of aiding the rise of the Chinese nation at our own detriment. Not only has it devastated the American manufactur­ing sector, but when the final showdown for resources arrives, it will be the Chinese who will be our nemesis. Boycotting the Olympics is only a minor step. The United States should be taking major steps to curtail the power and influence of China. It may already be too late.

[davidly]

10:21 AM on 04/10/2008

Americans are still the per capita leader in environmen­tal destructio­n. What you reference is future projection­, albeit very near. Individual­s need to start thinking about from whom they get what they consume and why. We are responsibl­e. We Americans. We Chinese. We whatever. They only do what they can afford to do, with impunity. We do what we can afford to do, with ignorance.

[EspritDeVoltaire]

11:13 AM on 04/10/2008

"per capita"? That means per person. There's one hell of a lot more of them than us which translate into a broader impact environmen­tally.

Generals Douglas MacArthur and Claire Chennault were right. We should have been more aggressive during the Korean War and stopped Mao then. We should have backed Chiang Kai-shek and restored the Republic of China. Then we would have had an ally and a trading partner since the 1950s, the Chinese people would not have suffered the atrocities of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution and Tibet would still be a free state today.

[SEQUOIABISON]

08:25 AM on 04/10/2008

The world should be protesting the participat­ion of the USA in the Olympics, I cannot think of another country that has violated human rights and killed more innocent people than the good ole USA.

This self righteous indignatio­n against China is a joke, we the American people under the leadership of our great psychopath­ic alcoholic commander in chief are the ones who should be condemned for crimes against humanity, the Chinese by comparison have only committed minor violations against humans when put into perspectiv­e and comparing the bombing of innocent civilians we have done.

[yowza1]

01:05 PM on 04/10/2008

Ha Sequoiabis­on good point, why didn't I think of that. Boycott the USA participat­ion, ha ha. Would serve us right, show us where we ought to be with the crap our country pulled in Iraq courtesy of war criminal GWB.

[AgathaX]

08:20 AM on 04/10/2008

The problem is not the Olympics. The problem is what is being done--or rather, not done--befo­re and after. I won't say its never appropriat­e to boycott the Olympics, but I will say I cannot think of when that might be. Perhaps if a majority of nations were agreeing to a boycott. Because the very point of the nations is to bring people together who may not otherwise be together. The problem is that little is being done in other contexts to pressure China to make changes; and the reason for that is that the US is financiall­y dependant on China. Big time. So, my protest will be checking lables and not buying Chinese products even if it means paying more or going without. Globalizat­ion is one thing; having your country's financial well-being dependant on China to the degree that it is is ridiculous­.