Olympic sponsors faulted for inactivity on Darfur

By Daniel Trotta

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Thirteen of 19 big corporate Olympic sponsors have flunked a test challenging them to pressure China over the 2008 Olympic Games host's support of Sudan, a U.S. advocacy group said on Monday.

General Electric won the best grade of C-plus, largely for making contact with the International Olympic Committee to raise concerns regarding Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region, the group Dream for Darfur said.

None of the companies reported making a direct plea to Chinese officials, said the group, which spent 16 weeks from May to October surveying the sponsors.

Dream for Darfur said it graded them on whether they took steps to influence or contact China or the International Olympic Committee, donated aid to Darfur or appointed a point person on Darfur, among other criteria.

Two companies -- McDonalds and Adidas -- won average grades of C.

"Our major conclusions were that the corporate Olympic sponsors are engaged in a form of silent complicity with the Chinese government in its support of genocide," said Ellen Freudenheim, who conducted research for the project.

Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson and UPS received a D and 13 companies got an F due to inaction.

They were: Atos Origin, Lenovo, Manulife, Panasonic, Samsung, Swatch, Anheuser-Busch, BHP Billiton, Eastman Kodak, Microsoft, Staples, Visa and Volkswagen.