In 2015, “Toyota” signed a ten-year sponsorship agreement with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
However, now that the Summer Olympic Games in Paris have ended, the automotive company has decided to terminate the contract, the chairman of the company’s board, Akio Toyoda, announced in a broadcast published on the “Toyota” channel on the “YouTube” platform.
“I’ve been wondering for some time whether the athletes really come first in this event,” said the grandson of Toyota founder Kijiichiro Toyoda, adding that the Olympics “are becoming more and more political.”
The decision means that the attributes of the Olympic Games with the “Toyota” logo will gradually no longer be used, and the company’s cars will no longer be used in events related to the Olympic Games, Toyoda informed.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported that Toyota is also ending its sponsorship of the Paralympic Games.
Toyoda told US Auto Dealers that he thinks the Olympics should be an event where you can watch all kinds of athletes overcome different obstacles and achieve the impossible.
This month, the Japanese electronics company “Panasonic” also announced that it was ending cooperation with the Olympic Games due to “management considerations”.
“Panasonic” informed that in negotiations with the IOC it was decided not to extend the sponsorship agreement after the current agreement expires in December.
“Panasonic” became the “official worldwide partner of the Olympic Games” in 1987. Since 2014, the company also sponsored the Paralympic Games.
As Panasonic explained, the group is “continually reviewing how sponsorship should evolve in light of broader management considerations.”
“Following such a review and after extensive consultation with the IOC, the parties have agreed not to renew the Olympic and Paralympic Partner Agreement,” Panasonic said, without elaborating.
2024-09-29 04:26:23