New Campaign to Vote for the Worst Corporate Sponsor of London’s 2012 Olympics


Bonnie Alter/CC BY 2.0

Not everyone is proud of London’s upcoming 2012 Olympics. A campaign called Greenwash Gold 2012 has been launched to name and shame the three worst Olympic sponsors: Rio Tinto, Dow and BP.

Three organisations: London Mining Network, Bhopal Medical Appeal and UK Tar Sands Network have accused these multinationals of using the Olympics as a “smokescreen for environmental and human rights abuses the world over.”

They are asking the public to vote on “who is covering up the most environmental destruction and devastating the most communities while pretending to be a good corporate citizen by sponsoring the Olympic games?”

Three short animation films have been made, one for each of the sponsors, outlining the ethical problems and issues. The winner of the public vote will get the inglorious medal: the Greenwash Gold for 2012.

BP is nominated for exploiting fossil fuels across the world and for its role in the Deepwater Horizon disaster which destroyed large portions of the Gulf Coast.

Dow gets chosen for its long history of environmental destruction, starting with Agent Orange in the Viet Nam war and culminating in the 1984 Bhopal Gas disaster in India, with the ongoing chemical contamination that sees, to this day, thousands of people drinking water heavily contaminated with dangerous chemicals.

Rio Tinto is the third nominee; they have managed to offend and exploit indigenous groups across the world in Indonesia, Australia, and the USA.

All three companies maintain that they are socially and environmentally responsible, and invest millions in clean technologies and community programmes.

Vote for your favourite, the winner (!) will be announced on the opening day of the Olympic Games, July 27, 2012.

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