Editing 1996 Summer Olympics (section)

==Sponsors==
The 1996 Summer Olympics relied heavily on commercial sponsorship. The Atlanta-based [[The Coca-Cola Company|Coca-Cola Company]] was the exclusive provider of soft drinks at Olympics venues, and built an attraction known as [[Coca-Cola Olympic City]] for the Games.<ref>{{cite web|last=Collins|first=Glenn|date=March 28, 1996|title=Coke's Hometown Olympics;The Company Tries the Big Blitz on Its Own Turf|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/28/business/coke-s-hometown-olympics-the-company-tries-the-big-blitz-on-its-own-turf.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|newspaper=New York Times|access-date=November 3, 2013}}</ref> As part of a sponsorship agreement with [[Columbia TriStar Television]], the [[Broadcast syndication|syndicated]] [[game show]]s ''[[Jeopardy!]]'' and ''[[Wheel of Fortune (U.S. game show)|Wheel of Fortune]]'' both produced episodes with Olympics tie-ins (including branded memorabilia and contests) for broadcast between April and July 1996. These included a ''Jeopardy!'' [[List of Jeopardy! tournaments and events#International Tournaments|international tournament]], and three weeks of ''Wheel of Fortune'' episodes filmed on-location at Atlanta's [[Fox Theatre (Atlanta)|Fox Theatre]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 16, 1996 |title=Atlanta spinning 'Wheel' for sponsorship fortune |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1996/03/16/atlanta-spinning-wheel-for-sponsorship-fortune/3620e4ea-246b-46b4-8fb3-56e2619b105c/ |access-date=April 17, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=October 16, 1995 |title=THAT 'WHEEL OF FORTUNE' JUST KEEPS SPINNING ALONG |url=https://www.deseret.com/1995/10/16/19199078/that-wheel-of-fortune-just-keeps-spinning-along/ |access-date=April 17, 2019 |website=Deseret News |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Winship">{{cite news |last=Winship |first=Frederick M. |date=January 24, 1995 |title=Game shows join 1996 Olympic games |work=United Press International |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1995/01/24/Game-shows-join-1996-Olympic-games/9237790923600/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200829120147/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1995/01/24/Game-shows-join-1996-Olympic-games/9237790923600/ |archive-date=August 29, 2020}}</ref>

The Games were affected by several instances of [[ambush marketing]]—in which companies attempt to use the Games as a means to promote their brand, in competition with the exclusive, category-based sponsorship rights issued by the Atlanta organizing committee and the IOC (which grants the rights to use Olympics-related terms and emblems in marketing). The Atlanta organizing committee threatened legal actions against advertisers whose marketing implied an official association with the Games. Several non-sponsors set up marketing activities in areas near venues, such as [[Samsung]] (competing with [[Motorola]]), which ambushed the Games with its "96 Expo".<ref name="wp-olympicsized"/><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Samsung-s-Expo-Gives-It-Olympic-Exposure-And-3303881.php|title=Samsung's Expo Gives It Olympic Exposure / And BellSouth is putting out COWS|date=July 2, 1996|work=SFGate|access-date=November 27, 2018}}</ref> The city of Atlanta had also licensed street vendors to sell products from competitors to Olympic sponsors.<ref name="mcgill1">{{cite web|url=http://reporter-archive.mcgill.ca/Rep/r2901/pound.htm|title=McGill's master of the rings|website=McGill Reporter|date=September 12, 1996|access-date=November 28, 2018}}</ref><ref name="Commercials">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2001/11/05/story3.html?page=2|title=Olympic bid smacks into $10M hurdle|website=San Francisco Business Times|last=Leuty|first=Ron|date=November 4, 2001|access-date=November 28, 2018}}</ref>

The most controversial ambush campaign was undertaken by [[Nike, Inc.]], which had begun an advertising campaign with aggressive slogans that mocked the Games' values, such as "Faster, Higher, Stronger, Badder", "If you're not here to win, you're a tourist", and "You don't win silver, you lose gold." The slogans were featured on magazine ads and [[billboard]]s it purchased in Atlanta.<ref name="wp-olympicsized">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1996/07/17/an-olympic-size-ambush/c6bbfed9-9515-4936-a21f-05787f493caa/?noredirect=on|title=An Olympic-Size Ambush|date=July 17, 1996|last=Heath|first=Thomas|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=November 26, 2018}}</ref> Nike also opened a [[Pop-up retail|pop-up store]] known as the Nike Center near the Athletes' Village, which distributed Nike-branded flags to visitors (presumably to be used at events).<ref name=sportpro-ambush /> IOC marketing director [[Michael Payne (executive)|Michael Payne]] expressed concern for the campaign, believing that athletes could perceive them as being an insult to their accomplishments.<ref name=sportpro-ambush /> Payne and the [[United States Olympic Committee]]'s marketing director, John Krimsky, met with Howard Slusher, a subordinate of Nike co-founder [[Phil Knight]]. The meeting quickly turned aggressive, with Payne warning that the IOC could pull accreditation for Nike employees and ban the display of its logos on equipment; he also threatened to organize a press conference where silver medallists from the Games, as well as prominent Nike-sponsored athlete [[Michael Johnson (sprinter)|Michael Johnson]] (who attracted attention during the Games for wearing custom, gold-colored Nike shoes), would denounce the company. Faced with these threats, Nike agreed to retract most of its negative advertising and [[public relations]] stunts.<ref name=sportpro-ambush>{{cite web|title=Rise of the pseudo-sponsors: A history of ambush marketing|url=http://www.sportspromedia.com/notes_and_insights/rise_of_the_pseudo-sponsors_a_history_of_ambush_marketing|website=SportPro|last=Emmett|first=James|date=June 16, 2010|access-date=January 3, 2015|archive-date=January 3, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150103100600/http://www.sportspromedia.com/notes_and_insights/rise_of_the_pseudo-sponsors_a_history_of_ambush_marketing|url-status=dead}}</ref>