Olson (2008) conducted a research to find the effect of context on the sponsorship of sports and cultural events. The author conducted a survey of 1125 respondents to understand what they felt about sponsors who had no previous affinity of relation to the event. The authors found out that there is some strong element of sensitivity for the context of a sponsor. For example, a manufacturer of motorcycles would have very little contextual relation if he sponsored a poetry and fine art event. Co-relates were also obtained about the origin of a product, its history and origin and its record of accomplishment. Respondents were inclined to think negatively of a sponsor if the company was associated with job losses, outsourcing of local jobs and if it was based from an Asian country. These feelings were very strong about products such as Lenovo, Haier and other Asian brands.

The gap in this literature is that there is no study done to show the contextual correlations when a foreign brand sponsored an event continuously for a few years. In the current international context, many people consume foreign brands and there is no negativity associated.