Major sponsor dumps ‘increasingly political’ Olympics

Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota is officially ending its Olympics sponsorship following the Paris Games, Chairman Akio Toyoda announced in a podcast posted on the company’s YouTube channel this week. According to Toyoda, this summer’s Olympics demonstrated that the event has become “increasingly political.”  

Toyota struck a ten-year sponsorship agreement with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2015. Toyota’s Olympic Partner contract was reported to be worth $835 million, the IOC’s largest sponsorship deal at the time. It was to span four Olympics but could be renewed upon expiry in 2025. Toyoda said, however, that he has become disillusioned with the event, which no longer puts athletes first. 

“I’ve wondered for a while now whether the event is truly putting athletes first… It is also becoming increasingly political,” the chairman stated. Previously, he said, “the Olympics should simply be about watching athletes from all walks of life, with all types of challenges, achieve their impossible.” 

The 2024 Olympic Games were riddled with scandals, from the much-maligned opening ceremony – which many people claimed was intended to mock Christianity – to the controversy surrounding the women’s boxing competition. The events drew criticism worldwide, but the IOC stood by its decisions, with outgoing president Thomas Bach hailing the “gender parity” of the Games.

However, according to media reports, even prior to the Paris Olympics, some people at Toyota expressed concerns over how sponsorship money is handled by the IOC, which they claimed was not used effectively to support athletes and promote sports. Some experts also say Toyota’s decision may be influenced by the memory of the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, which took place at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and was highly criticized for this. Toyota was even forced to halt any Olympics-themed advertising on Japanese TV during the event. 

According to the Japan Times, Toyota had hoped to retain its sponsorship of the International Paralympic Committee, but the IOC reportedly demanded that it sponsor either both events or none.

Toyota is not the only sponsor opting out of its partnership with the IOC. Another Japanese company, Panasonic, which has sponsored the Olympics since 1987, also announced its withdrawal earlier this month. The electronics giant cited “management considerations” as the reason for the move.