Coke Tied to Tasteless Campaign

Thanks to the always interesting blog Agency Spy, I read about a story from Brand Republic which noted that yet another Olympic team thought it would be a great idea to imitate the Chinese people by pulling back the corners of their eyes. However, instead of just an egg on their faces, they happen to be sporting the famous logo of the team sponsor, Coca Cola.

Yikes. Now Coke is no stranger to dubious stories about them (true or not), so they are well-versed in crisis management and likey have a statement out already condeming the picture, blah, blah blah. However, when the Spanish men’s team had a similiar photo taken, the pose was the idea of the team sponsor. Could the same be true here?

Another larger question remains for me. How did this whole impersonation idea get the green light? It is clearly offensive, and people should have known better. How many more pictures are going to surface, and who is the next team sponsor with a “hilarious” photo idea??