I just finished reading PRWeek’s op-ed on the 2008 Olympics and the associated protests.  The piece’s headline says it all – “Avoiding politics is not a solid long-term game plan.”  I completely agree.

Every sponsorship initiative has inherent political risks.  If a sponsorship receives unfavorable press because of political tensions, it’s naïve for a PR professional to try and diffuse the issue by saying its client didn’t enter the sponsorship for a political purpose.

Before a corporation enters into any sponsorship or charitable arrangement – whether green initiatives, international aid, or the Olympics – potential political backlash should be taken into account and prepared for.  The larger the event or initiative, the greater the risk.

Today, politics is business and business is politics.  It’s part of the lexicon.

Ronn Torossian
5WPR

This entry was posted on Monday, June 30th, 2008 at 3:02 pm and is filed under OLYMPICS, PR. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.