Tokyo Olympics 2021: Major sponsor Toyota pulls Games-related advertisements

Car-maker Toyota, one of the Games’ major sponsors, has suddenly halted one key thing in what is believed to be a move to limit brand damage.

One of the Tokyo Olympics’ major sponsors, Toyota Motor Corporation, has decided not to air local Games-related advertisements in what is seen as a bid to limit brand damage.

Car-maker Toyota revealed on Monday it would not run Games-related commercials in Japan, and its president Aiko Toyoda would not attend the Opening Ceremony as planned on Friday.

Toyota’s operating officer Jun Nagata said at an online briefing the company would not send Mr Toyoda or officials to the Games because of the COVID-19 crisis, which has plunged Tokyo into a fourth state of emergency.

Toyota Motor Corporation has decided not to air local Games-related advertisements in what is seen as a bid to limit brand damage. Picture: AFP

The company will continue to provide the Games with official vehicles, but will not broadcast advertisements it had already filmed, featuring some Olympic athletes, citing the decision by organisers not to allow spectators into venues in Tokyo.

The announcement by Toyota came on the same day a poll by Asahi Shimbun newspaper showed almost seven in 10 people polled across Japan did not believe the Games could go ahead safely.

The poll of around 1400 people across the nation found only 33 per cent supported the Games going ahead, while 55 per cent of those polled were opposed.

In Tokyo city, only 30 per cent were supportive of the Games going ahead while 58 per cent were opposed. A small protest on Sunday saw about 200 people turn out in central Tokyo calling for the Games to be cancelled.

As the public relations nightmare continued for Games organisers, police arrested a part-time Games worker on suspicion of rape, after an incident involving a female Games worker at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium last week.

The 30-year-old Uzbek man was arrested on Sunday on allegation he sexually assaulted the woman after they both worked a shift at the rehearsal of the Olympic opening ceremony last week. Broadcaster NHK said the man had denied the allegations and claimed the woman did not deny his advances.