TOKYO — Toyota Motor will not air any Olympic-related TV advertisements and company officials including President Akio Toyoda will not attend the opening ceremony or other events, despite the automaker being a top-tier sponsor.
The decision, which the company confirmed on Monday, comes amid lukewarm public sentiment toward the Olympics, set to kick off Friday amid a surge in coronavirus cases in Tokyo.
The Japanese carmaker cited confusion over how the Summer Olympics and Paralympics will be carried out, saying there are still “things that are not understood” about the operations of the event.
The Toyota group planned to run TV ads featuring the Olympic athletes whom the group sponsors, but decided not to after people within and outside the company voiced concerns over whether the Games can be held safely given the rising number of coronavirus infections.
Masa Takaya, spokesperson for the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, said it is up to each sponsor to determine its own advertising strategy, but acknowledged the “mixed” public mood toward the Games.
“These partners and sponsors must have been struggling to support Tokyo 2020 [after a one-year delay due to the pandemic]. … And that one year was a pretty intensive and challenging situation, but still those partners and sponsors were always very supportive of Tokyo 2020,” Takaya told reporters on Monday.
“Of course … there is mixed public sentiment towards the Games,” he added. “There must be a decision by each company in terms of how they should be able to convey their messages to the public from its corporate perspective.”
Toyota will still provide 3,340 vehicles, including electric and fuel cell autos, for transporting athletes and staff members, almost the same number as originally planned. It will also provide robots for use at various venues. The company also will still promote the athletes it sponsors on its website.
The automaker voiced concerns over public response to the Olympics as early as May, when Japanese athletes were facing calls on social media to speak out against the event.
“As a sponsor, we are pained that some people’s anxiety is directed at athletes,” Jun Nagata, Toyota’s chief communication officer, said on May 12 at the company’s earnings briefing. “We sincerely would like all athletes and people to be able to welcome the Tokyo Games without concern.”
A large factor influencing Toyota’s most recent decision is the poor communication with the International Olympic Committee and other organizers concerning the postponement of the Games and the recent move to ban spectators in several venues.
Multiple Toyota executives expressed frustration over the slow decision-making process by the IOC, Japan’s government and other stakeholders regarding the number of spectators to allow.
“Too often we learn information from the news, so what does it mean to be a sponsor?” one executive was reported to have complained.
It is believed that this mistrust is one reason Akio Toyoda will not attend the opening ceremony.
Toyota signed a deal with the IOC to be a top sponsor in 2015, with the contract set to expire in 2024. The automaker originally planned to maximize this public relations opportunity, but “this time the corporate image could suffer,” a Toyota insider said.
Consumers have turned critical of the Tokyo Olympics. Negative tweets containing the words “Olympics” and “Toyota” outpaced positive tweets containing those words earlier this month, according to a Nikkei study using Social Insight, a social media analytics tool developed by Tokyo-based startup User Local.
Other Olympic sponsors from Japan are struggling with how to respond. At the end of June, food company Ajinomoto decided not to air commercials featuring the Olympics this month.
“As for our commercials in August, we will make our decision by the end of July,” an Ajinomoto representative said.
Technology group NEC is already airing commercials celebrating athletes. As for other ads, “we will make decisions day by day based on the coronavirus conditions, and not on public opinion,” said a representative for NEC.
Many executives are withdrawing from attendance at official events. Nippon Telegraph & Telephone and staffing group Recruit Holdings said they will not attend due to the ban on spectators.
“Around April, we received an inquiry from the organizing committee about our executives attending the opening and closing ceremonies, but we decided not to attend considering current affairs,” said a representative at Japan Post.
Instant noodle purveyor Nissin Foods Holdings, staffing provider Pasona Group and leading package deliverer Yamato Holdings also decided against having executives attend the opening ceremony.
“There is a risk in having someone else witness me visit an Olympic venue,” one executive said.