Pierce Mattie Public Relations New York & Los Angeles

China might be dominating the medal count (at this very moment they lead the U.S. by 2 medals) but as an entire country they are participating in an even larger olympic event: World image. It has been no secret that China is willing to do whatever it takes to change their image in the world's eye.

 

The opening ceremony was simply one big PR event broadcasted to the world.  While it remains incredibly impressive that thousands of performers coordinated many intricate arrangements in outlandish costumes on even more outlandish sets (who ever knew a 500 ft LCD even existed), some of the coverage of the ceremony was altered.  

 

In the days following the "cinematic" performance China put forth on the opening day, reports continue to pour in, regarding different elements that were misrepresented. Fireworks were apparently altered for the broadcast using computer animation.  There are also reports that the final torch bearer was falsely depicted when it appeared he was running along the top of the national stadium. 

 

Now an even bigger misrepresentation has unfurled with the discovery that the "smiling angel" child performer seen to the right (Lin Maoke) was actually just lip-synching the notes of a talented child who was deemed not attractive enough for the cameras and was forced to sing backstage.

China's efforts to have a "perfect" Olympics are beyond the opening cermonies. The Chinese government has been said to pressure the country's gymnastics teams to win in this, their hosting Olympiad. And who could forget the outrageously detailed code of etiquette the country's government issued that included advising against wearing too many colors and recommending taxi drivers to eat less garlic?

 

In the spirit of the new gymnastics scoring, let's judge China's execution in comparison to it's start value.  China definitely put the bar up there with the degree of difficulty their PR efforts demanded, but have they executed these efforts properly?  Is there an air of desperation around these efforts? Or is China dead on in taking full advantage of this world platform in order to try to change the world's perception of them?