Fifa has not yet managed to fill all of its sponsorship slots for next year’s World Cup and experts believe big brands may be scared off by Qatar’s human rights record and laws against homosexuality.
Football’s world governing body currently has six brands, including Adidas, Coca/Cola and Hyundai/Kia signed up for its top-tier £25m partner package, which includes preferential advertising slots as well as stadium promotion. But two slots remain unsold.
Fifa, which owns the World Cup rights, has set a £5bn profits target from broadcast and sponsorship deals for Qatar.
Yet for a sport which has made tackling racism and homophobia a priority, associating itself with a state condemned for human rights violations, from criminalising homosexuality to abuse of migrant workers, may not be a “good look”.
Minal Modha, sports research lead at media agency Ampere Analysis, said: “It could be the case, given the rise in socially responsible marketing and sponsorship, that [the World Cup] being held in Qatar and all the human rights abuses and homophobia is turning people off.”
“I saw interviews with Josh Cavallo [the Australian who is the world’s only openly gay top flight footballer] who said he’d be scared… so if brands are reading those headlines, I imagine it’ll be giving them second thoughts.”
She said other factors could be the time of year and a potential clash with Christmas marketing budgets as well as brands being wary of spending huge amounts of money before the pandemic is over.
Mengniu, one of China leading dairy manufacturers, has signed up to become a “World Cup sponsor”, the secondary tier sold by Fifa. But three sponsor slots are still unfilled.
Amnesty International is urging sponsors to use their influence to press the Middle East state to make reforms.
Peter Frankental, the economic affairs programme director at Amnesty UK, told i: “The mistreatment of migrant workers who have built the stadiums and infrastructure that will actually making the tournament possible is likely to be a considerable stain on this World Cup. But sponsors can still effect meaningful change if they’re prepared to raise these issues.”
Adidas told i it is taking its ethical responsibilities seriously.
A spokesman for the sportswear brand said: “For the past seven years, we have been engaged with our partners to improve the human rights situation in Qatar.
“This includes support for the establishment of an independent International Labour Organization office as an independent local monitoring body, strengthening the rights of foreign migrants and promoting a national minimum wage for all workers.”
Adidas added: “We consider sport to be a platform for fairness and mutual respect. We fully support every effort to make football a space where all individuals are fully accepted and able to be themselves to make the sport everyone’s game.”
Ms Modha added: “The homophobic laws haven’t changed since Qatar was awarded the world cup and we’ve had several reports of migrant worker deaths and poor working conditions in the lead up to the event which doesn’t seem to have had an impact. While the sponsors may be nervous, they’ll be hoping the football will drown out the social issues which could overshadow the competition.”
That’s the calculation David Beckham has made after agreeing to “promote tourism and culture” for the next decade in Qatar, in a £100m deal.
Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said the deal could tarnish the “Beckham brand”.
As Marcus Rashford has demonstrated, star players with huge social media followings and a social conscience to match, can wield a greater influence over Governments than corporate sponsors.
As yet no international player has said he is unwilling to travel to Qatar but broadcasters such as Gary Lineker, who backed up his politically-engaged tweets by taking in refugees at his home, are being asked if they will boycott the tournament.
Lineker, expected to front the BBC’s coverage, said he will “go and report” on all aspects of the World Cup but condemned Qatar for its human rights record. “Will I do (commercial) stuff for Qatar in the World Cup? Absolutely not. Whatever they wanted to pay me, the answer would be no.”
As for Beckham’s decision to work for Qatar, Lineker told The Sun: “It’s not something I would have done but it’s his business.”
For fans more concerned about how they will watch the first Winter World Cup, the good news is that all games will be live on free-to-air television with BBC and ITV retaining the rights.
FIFA has confirmed the first two rounds of matches will kick off at 1pm, 4pm, 7pm and 10pm local time (10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm in the United Kingdom). Kick-off times in the final round of group games and knock-out round matches will be at 6pm and 10pm local time (3pm and 7pm UK time).
Tier 1 – FIFA Partners
Adidas
Coca-Cola
Wanda Group
Hyundai
Qatar Airways
Visa
Tier 2 – World Cup 2022 sponsors
Budweiser
Hisense
McDonalds
Vivo
Mengniu
Tier 3 – FIFA World Cup Regional Partners
Ooredoo – Qatari telecommunications firm
UPL – sustainable agriculture business
GWC – Qatar-based logistics company
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3DCVMWD
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