Amnesty International has criticised Olympic sponsors including
Coca-Cola and Mc-Donald's for their failure to condemn the International
Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision to award the 2008 Olympic Games to
Beijing.
Amnesty believes China's poor human rights record should have led the
IOC's top-tier sponsors to voice concern about allowing Beijing to host
the event.
While sponsors openly criticised the IOC over the Salt Lake City 2002
scandal, none have publicly denounced Beijing's bid. Observers suggest
China's status as the world's biggest untapped market for global brands
has made sponsors reluctant to condemn its human rights record.
Current top-tier sponsors include Kodak, Coca-Cola, McDonald's and
Samsung.
Coke and Kodak are already understood to have re-signed for the 2008
Games.
Separately, Richard Pound, head of the IOC's marketing department, has
offered his resignation following his unsuccessful bid for the IOC
presidency.
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