Dow Gets Heat Re. Olympic Sponsorship From Indians In London; $100 Mill X 4 For Games, $0 For Bhopal
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The Indian government wants Dow to pay an additional $1.7 billion, but Dow has refused, saying it has no responsibility for Bhopal and that Union Carbide settled liabilities. The dispute was resurrected in the public eye by Dow's sponsorship of this year's Olympic games in London, home to a large South Asian population.
Dow will not be putting its logo on a decorative wrap that will don London's Olympic stadium in the months leading up to the opening ceremony. Dow had hoped the wrap would showcase its environmentally friendly plastic.
"When you're doing an Olympics in England, considering the huge Indian population there, you probably could have suspected that there was going to be some protest," said Elliot Schreiber, executive director of Drexel University's Center for Corporate Reputation Management. "Dow has walked into a period of time where there's a lot of sensitivity."
The U.S. chemical giant will spend roughly $100 million every four years to sponsor the Olympics through 2020, a deal that extends to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia's Sochi, the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro and the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/21/dowchemical-olympics-idUSL2E8DL07M20120221