Mkt505-Assignment #4- China Olympics

Assignment #4- China Olympics

Jamie Kauffman

Strayer University-MKT 505

December 2, 2011

Dr. Benjamin Boa

Analyze the reasons why the Chinese government hired a Western public relations firm to work on the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

China is and has been a country that usually keeps its thoughts and ideas hidden to the rest of the world. Basically, part of the Chinese culture is to keep things close to the vest. Unfortunately, when China won the Olympics it could no longer hide behind tradition and cultural influences. After the announcement that China would host the Olympics, several groups began to protest the decision to allow China a chance to host the Olympics. Understandably, with China’s record on human rights and other socially unacceptable practices people did not want China to host a gathering of the world’s finest athletes. Even after the initial announcement had been made, people gathered at various stops on the torch run to protest China’s hosting the Olympics.

After the reactions to the Olympic committee awarding China the summer games, they made the decision that western public relations mechanisms were necessary. Breaking thousands of years of tradition and privacy strategies, China looked to western public relations firms to assist in marketing the summer games. China’s more or less successful public relations work to explain its policy with solid facts has helped to mend its image (Dingli, 2008).

They would look everywhere for help. China needed to have the expertise of western spin machines. China was not experienced in handling protests in a civil manner; they usually strong armed their citizens into agreeing with their decisions. The world would not go along with any normal China strong-arm tactics. The need to use soft gloves and handle the already hot button issues called for more skilled and experienced PR firms. Additionally, timing was becoming an issue, China needed to act fast before the world, not just...