ZEENAT MOORAD: How Chinese companies got in on the game
One can’t help but notice the unprecedented presence of Chinese companies affiliated with this year’s World Cup
Warning: this is a soccer World Cup-themed column, so if soccer isn’t your thing, then look away quickly. The logos of big-name corporate sponsors such as McDonald’s, Visa, Coca-Cola and Budweiser are easily identified in the tournament, but one can’t help but notice the unprecedented presence of Chinese companies affiliated with the event this year. There’s yoghurt drinks maker Mengniu (um, who?), consumer electronics group Hisense, mobile phone group Vivo, and Wanda, the world’s biggest private property developer. Remember, the event is expected to draw 3.5bn TV viewers in more than 200 countries. So these companies are basically seizing the opportunity to push their products in front of billions of global eyeballs because Western firms such as Johnson & Johnson, Castrol and Continental have been put off by Fifa’s bribery scandal. There’s something else: brands are worried about being too closely associated with host country Russia. It has been accused of meddling in US elections ...
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