Olympic advertisers scale back amid Japanese coronavirus surge: report

Sponsors of the Tokyo Olympic Games have begun to scale back advertising over concerns that the events could be further postponed or canceled amid a new wave of coronavirus infections.  

Reuters found that based on interviews with two dozen sponsors, organizers and officials, there is a high level of uncertainty on whether the games will move forward as planned, despite continued assertions from Japanese officials that the games will start on July 23. 

Some of Japan’s largest domestic companies, including Canon and Japan Airlines, have collectively pitched in more than $3 billion in sponsorships for the games, according to Reuters. 

Sponsors who spoke to Reuters also vocalized concerns on the absence of a contingency plan if the games are once again postponed after already being moved from the summer of 2020. 

A January survey by Japan’s Kyodo News found that 80 percent of the public now supports canceling or postponing the Tokyo Games. 

Canon’s chief financial officer, Toshizo Tanaka, told reporters Thursday the company was working as if the event will go ahead as planned, but is “considering internally how to respond just in case it can’t be held.” 

Tokyo’s organizing committee told Reuters that it was continuing to work with its sponsors, adding that it has received full support from its stakeholders for the continuation of the events. 

The concerns among sponsors come after Japan last week said there was “no truth” to a report in Britain’s Times newspaper that the government “privately concluded that the Tokyo Olympics will have to be cancelled because of the coronavirus.” 

“It is very disappointing to see that the Times is developing such a tabloid-like story with an untrustworthy source,” an organizing committee source told Reuters at the time. “The national government is fully committed to delivering a safe and secure Games.” 

While some have vocalized support for the continuation of the games as planned, including Utah Sen. Mitt Romney (R), Rasmus Bech Hansen, the founder of British research firm Airfinity, told Reuters this week that the herd immunity benchmark of about 75 percent of the Japanese population vaccinated likely won’t come until October.