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Medals at Tokyo olympics are recycled from discarded electronic equipment

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Re: Medals at Tokyo olympics are recycled from discarded electronic equipment

#141

Post by toiletaccount »

nixass wrote: post #131
AlexandrB wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too bad they didn't crowdsource the decision about whether the olympics should happen this year: https://sports.yahoo.com/cancel-the-olympics-japanese-people...

Canceling Olympics is difficult. Whoever cancels it, has to pay hefty fine, either the host or the Olympic committee. The pandemic is sadly not the valid reason to cancel them, at least not in committee's eyes, so Japan was strong handed here.

Japan could have just said no to the Olympics, not paid the fine and told the IOC exactly where to put the contract.

Hosting the games ends up costing the host countries more money anyway so if IOC skips over them in the future...so what?

E: this assumes the fine isn't already in escrow

Re: Medals at Tokyo olympics are recycled from discarded electronic equipment

#142

Post by Ntrails »

ColonialOne wrote: post #47
Ntrails wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think we all wanted it too Definitely not true. However, post hoc I am forced to admit it was not as colossal a waste of money as I'd expected, and honestly there was an astonishingly positive societal response. So, I was wrong , but I was not alone!

An astonishingly positive societal response which lasted how long? Do you think there have been long lasting benefits from that or was it just a nice few weeks? If the latter, which is my impression, I don't think that represents value for money at all.

I would argue years, genuinely. I still hear conversations about how great it was etc etc.

Re: Medals at Tokyo olympics are recycled from discarded electronic equipment

#143

Post by draugadrotten »

grecy wrote: post #59

Brisbane in Australia just "won" the hosting of the 2032 games. It was uncontested, which tells us everything we need to know about how beneficial it is for cities to host it.

Crikey! I hope croc wrestling will be an olympic sport by then, in honour of the amazing Steve Irwin.

Re: Medals at Tokyo olympics are recycled from discarded electronic equipment

#144

Post by acituan »

JetSetWilly wrote: post #137
acituan wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Olympics in London cost 11.3 Billion and generated revenue of 3.3 billion which doesn't exactly seem hugely beneficial. Except it is one giant international PR and brand recognition event for the host country. TV ads cost in aggregate billions too and don’t bring any revenue immediately, doesn’t mean they are a waste of money. Not to mention Olympics getting people interested in doing sports, which amid a globa…

If this is true, why is there no evidence? Tourism in cities that have hosted the olympics doesn’t have an increase - certainly for london it didn’t. There’s no economic benefits in the years following for the host country that have been observed. It is doubtful that these second order benefits exist at all. Even for “name recognition” as an end in itself - cities like London and Tokyo are hardly backwaters in need o…

> If this is true, why is there no evidence?

How well can companies evidentiate their brand awareness campaigns? How well can an actress calculate returns from having attended a talk-show? Evidence of absence cannot reliably be inferred from an absence of evidence.

> Even for “name recognition” as an end in itself - cities like London and Tokyo are hardly backwaters in need of a PR boost.

Familiarity is not the same as salience. Coca Cola is known by virtually the entire world, that doesn't make them stop the ads or branding campaigns.

> If tackling obesity is such a priority, I’m sure there’s more direct and effective ways to tackle it with 11 billion quid.

Conceivable doesn't mean doable. There are many direct and effective ways of improving a great many things in the world, yet they don't happen.

Just like a great startup idea doesn't translate to a billion dollar revenue, political implementation doesn't spring into existence just from good ideas either.

Re: Medals at Tokyo olympics are recycled from discarded electronic equipment

#145

Post by craftinator »

decadancer wrote: post #86
Scea91 wrote: post #5

Small details like this make my day. I also love how it was basically crowdfunded by Japanese people. It quite strenghtens the symbolic value of the medal I think.

Almost all of government spending is crowdfunded

If you don't opt in to the crowdfunding, it's called "mass theft".

Re: Medals at Tokyo olympics are recycled from discarded electronic equipment

#146

Post by breakfastduck »

dijit wrote: post #41
JetSetWilly wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Olympics in London cost 11.3 Billion and generated revenue of 3.3 billion which doesn't exactly seem hugely beneficial. Of course in the usual London fashion most of the money came out of UK govt coffers, national lottery funding etc - so it was just a form of London sucking cash out of the rest of the UK to build infra, via the handy "Olympics" excuse, so I can see how a londoner might argue it was good as it wa…

I don't disagree with any particular point here but I'd like to point out that there are some second order effects from that investment money, it wasn't just "gone" and it didn't just go to the koffers of building contractors either. I can give some examples; 1) Newham was a very impoverished area before the olympic stadium was set to move there. Now Stratford and Newham are desirable.. More desirable than Hackney wh…

For people in London only, though. At the cost of the rest of the country.

Re: Medals at Tokyo olympics are recycled from discarded electronic equipment

#147

Post by alasdair_ »

toiletaccount wrote: post #141
nixass wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Canceling Olympics is difficult. Whoever cancels it, has to pay hefty fine, either the host or the Olympic committee. The pandemic is sadly not the valid reason to cancel them, at least not in committee's eyes, so Japan was strong handed here.

Japan could have just said no to the Olympics, not paid the fine and told the IOC exactly where to put the contract. Hosting the games ends up costing the host countries more money anyway so if IOC skips over them in the future...so what? E: this assumes the fine isn't already in escrow

That could have led to Japan being banned from the Olympics until the fine is paid.

Re: Medals at Tokyo olympics are recycled from discarded electronic equipment

#148

Post by alasdair_ »

acituan wrote: post #144
JetSetWilly wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If this is true, why is there no evidence? Tourism in cities that have hosted the olympics doesn’t have an increase - certainly for london it didn’t. There’s no economic benefits in the years following for the host country that have been observed. It is doubtful that these second order benefits exist at all. Even for “name recognition” as an end in itself - cities like London and Tokyo are hardly backwaters in need o…

> If this is true, why is there no evidence? How well can companies evidentiate their brand awareness campaigns? How well can an actress calculate returns from having attended a talk-show? Evidence of absence cannot reliably be inferred from an absence of evidence. > Even for “name recognition” as an end in itself - cities like London and Tokyo are hardly backwaters in need of a PR boost. Familiarity is not the same…

>How well can companies evidentiate their brand awareness campaign?

Remarkably well actually. You can do things like ask people questions about the olympics and the sponsor city and then put them into cohorts based on their answers. From that, you can look at how much spending occurred in the target city from each cohort.

Re: Medals at Tokyo olympics are recycled from discarded electronic equipment

#149

Post by toiletaccount »

alasdair_ wrote: post #147
toiletaccount wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japan could have just said no to the Olympics, not paid the fine and told the IOC exactly where to put the contract. Hosting the games ends up costing the host countries more money anyway so if IOC skips over them in the future...so what? E: this assumes the fine isn't already in escrow

That could have led to Japan being banned from the Olympics until the fine is paid.

eh.

Re: Medals at Tokyo olympics are recycled from discarded electronic equipment

#150

Post by dijit »

breakfastduck wrote: post #146
dijit wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't disagree with any particular point here but I'd like to point out that there are some second order effects from that investment money, it wasn't just "gone" and it didn't just go to the koffers of building contractors either. I can give some examples; 1) Newham was a very impoverished area before the olympic stadium was set to move there. Now Stratford and Newham are desirable.. More desirable than Hackney wh…

For people in London only, though. At the cost of the rest of the country.

I never refuted that, and in another comment I equally lambasted this practice.

So, what are you contributing to the conversation?

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