Olympic Ad Show Unity, Not Patriotism and Globalization is Not to Blame

There has been some fuss made about some of the Olympic Games advertising done by business. Companies like Coca-Cola and VISA are going out of their way to emphasize themes of cooperation and global unity. The pop company is no longer offering its solely pro-U.S. cans in the United States but is selling pro-Ethiopian, Russian, Thai, and world unity cans as well. VISA has advertisements featuring athletes from various countries. Going back to Coke, they released an ad (below) showing unity between the U.S. and China.

Some will claim these advertisements reflect the globalized era where transnational companies is common and the desire for world unity is strong. These assessments are wrong. Two main factors are in play. Lack of nationalism/patriotism in some Americans who prefer see the Olympics as a world unity event rather than a competition between nations. The second equally important reason is the desire of American companies not to offend the People's Republic of China. The Olympics are P.R. China's coming out party and they take offense to any perceived slight; France is suffering from a massive travel boycott because the Olympic flame was mistreated in Paris over Tibet.

The feelings of "unity" are not universal. In the People's Republic the ads highly tout the Red Chinese team in their effort to dethrone the Americans for most gold. Just check out the ad below where all of China supports their stars.

For a person who grew up with the "American Dream Team" and strong patriotic displays this time is hard to bear. It could be worse though. The games could be tainted by government corruption resulting in disqualification, human rights abuses, banning baseball, and mascots who some believe are harbingers of Hell. Oh wait.