WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 /EMWNews/ -- "Commercialism is

overrunning the Olympics," contends a report issued today by Multinational

Monitor magazine and Commercial Alert, an advocacy group.



    Commercialism "is undermining the professed ideals of the Olympic

Games, and subverting the Olympics' veneration of sport with omnipresent

commercial messaging and branding," charges the report, "The Commercial

Games: How Commercialism is Overrunning the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games."



    A record 63 companies have become sponsors or partners of the Beijing

Olympics, and Olympic-related advertising in China alone could reach $4

billion to $6 billion this year, according to CSM, a Beijing marketing

research firm.



    The Olympic Partners (TOP) program, run and managed by the

International Olympic Committee (IOC) since 1985, includes 12 companies for

the Beijing Olympics. These 12 companies have paid $866 million to the

International Olympic Committee.



    The U.S. Olympic system is awash in corporate sponsor money. Well over

100 corporations are sponsoring the U.S. Olympic Committee or U.S. national

teams.



    "The Olympic rush to sell sponsorships to the highest bidders has led

to partnerships with companies whose products or methods of doing business

betray Olympic ideals: junk food hawkers, beer and liquor peddlers, and

equipment makers reliant on sweatshop contractors, among others," says

Jennifer Wedekind, co-author of the report and Multinational Monitor

associate editor.



    "The Commercial Games" documents the extent of sponsorship deals

attached to the Olympics and official Olympics-related committees, down to

everything from the "official home and industrial flooring supplier" to the

"frozen dumplings exclusive supplier" of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.



    "The Olympic ideals of promoting authentic culture and education have

been drowned beneath a sea of sponsorship and marketing arrangements," says

Robert Weissman, managing director of Commercial Alert and editor of

Multinational Monitor.



    "The Commercial Games" recommends that the IOC, National Olympic

Committees, and international and national sports governing bodies scale

back the overall number of sponsorships. The report also urges the IOC and

other Olympic bodies to refuse sponsorships from alcohol or junk food

companies, or companies tied to gross human rights violations.



    "The Commercial Games" is available at:

http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/2008olympics.html.



    Multinational Monitor is a bimonthly magazine reporting critically on

the activities of multinational corporations http://www.multinationalmonitor.org.

Commercial Alert is an advocacy group that aims to keep the commercial

culture within its proper sphere http://www.commercialalert.org.