The subdued mood among Japanese companies stands in contrast with an aggressive marketing push by Chinese companies, like Anta Sports and Yili Group, which are using a popular athlete to promote their products.
Three Japanese companies, Toyota Motors, Bridgestone and Panasonic, serve as top-level sponsors, known as Worldwide Olympic Partners. Toyota has provided more than 2,000 vehicles for the Beijing Games while Bridgestone has offered roughly 11,500 tires.
Panasonic is offering air purifiers and washing machines to help support athletes at Olympic villages.
As a Japan Olympic Committee sponsor, food company Ajinomoto also provides nutritional supplements to Japanese athletes.
But so far they have not run any Olympics-linked TV advertisements in Japan. As of Friday, there have been no Olympic-themed ads, including ones using the logo, according to CM Soken Consulting.
This compares with ads by about 30 companies that ran roughly 2,650 times from late January through February during the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea.
The Olympics has not provided the usual boost to TV sales this time. Japanese sales of TVs since mid-January have been down 5% to 6% on the year, according to BCN, reflecting the lack of excitement among consumers.
The US, the UK, and Australia decided on diplomatic boycotts of the Games by refusing to send government representatives, citing the alleged detention of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang and other concerns.
Sponsor companies are worried that aggressively supporting the Games could affect their business in those countries.
Only a limited number of corporate representatives, including Panasonic Chairman Kazuhiro Tsuga, attended the opening ceremony.
“We have no choice but to tone down our PR activity,” said a source at one sponsor company. “This was totally unexpected.”
This comes after last year’s Tokyo Summer Olympics, during which sponsor companies dialled down their advertising out of consideration for public opinion critical of holding the Games amid a pandemic.
On the other hand, Chinese companies are going all-out to cash in on the home games.
Wu Dajing, a speed skater who won the gold medal in Pyeongchang and is expected to do well at these Games, is among the athletes receiving endorsements from sportswear company Anta Sports.
According to Chinese media, online orders for Anta Sports through leading e-commerce platforms rose more than 50% from last year.
Dairy producer Yili Group, which tapped Wu to advertise its products as well, also saw a surge in online sales.
Sales of winter sports equipment, such as skis and snowboards, are also brisk, especially in regions reporting no coronavirus cases.