The ethics of corporate sponsorship

Petrochemicals firm Ineos has been revealed as the new sponsor of cycling’s Team Sky, prompting accusations that the company is attempting to burnish its reputation and distract from environmentally harmful activities. In the same week, the UK’s National Portrait Gallery rejected a substantial donation from the Sackler Trust – run by the family that owns Purdue Pharma, maker of the opioid painkiller OxyContin (oxycodone). The company’s (and some members of the Sackler family’s) alleged involvement in convincing US doctors to prescribe opioids more freely are being examined in US courts, and some prominent artists had put pressure on the gallery to break its link with the Sacklers.