Sponsors shy away from Winter Olympics

Hong Kong

WHEREVER they are held, the Olympics are a chance for big-name local sponsors to show home-country pride, associate their brands with athletic values and splash their logos before millions of eyeballs.

This month in South Korea is set to be different.

The country is hosting its first Winter Games amid a national reckoning about big business, politics and the tentacles of influence that link them. Calls for a clean-up intensified this week after the heir apparent at Samsung, a top-tier Olympic sponsor, was freed from prison by a court ruling that reduced and suspended his sentence for bribery.

The Pyeongchang Games themselves stand as a symbol …