Factbox: From apartheid to Gaza, consumer boycotts have hit major companies over the years
04/09/2024 12:31
LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - HGlobal companies including
Anheuser-Busch InBev ABI.BR , Coca-Cola KO.N and Target
TGT.N have suffered hits to sales and, in some cases,
reputations, after shoppers boycotted their products or services
over the years.
Consumer boycotts date back at least as far as an 18th
century anti-slavery sugar protest in Britain. In more recent
years, activists have used social media to target companies
whose policies are perceived as irresponsible.
Below are examples of situations that led to consumer
boycotts:
ISRAEL'S WAR IN GAZA
* Israel and Hamas have been waging war since gunmen from
the Palestinian militant group stormed into southern Israel from
Gaza on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing 253 hostages,
by Israeli tallies. More than 40,800 people have been killed in
Gaza during Israel's subsequent invasion of the Palestinian
enclave, according to Gazan health authorities.
Since then, consumers in several Muslim-majority countries
have avoided products from companies they perceive as friendly
toward Israel. Some companies with operations in Israel,
including Unilever ULVR.L and Nestle NESN.S , say sales have
been lower in Muslim countries such as Indonesia.
* In January, McDonald's MCD.N CEO Chris Kempczinski said
several markets in the Middle East and some outside the region
experienced a "meaningful business impact" due to the
Israel-Hamas conflict as well as "associated misinformation"
about the brand.
* Starbucks said in January that the war had hurt business
in the Middle East as it missed market expectations for forecast
first-quarter results. In March, Reuters reported that Gulf
retail giant AlShaya Group, which owns the rights to operate
Starbucks in the Middle East, planned to lay off over 2,000
people as the business suffered from the boycotts.
* In February, Britain's Unilever said fourth-quarter sales
growth in Southeast Asia was hurt by shoppers in Indonesia
boycotting brands of multinational companies "in response to the
geopolitical situation in the Middle East."
APARTHEID
* Universities in the United States and Britain's
Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) encouraged people in Britain and
the United States to boycott products made in apartheid-era
South Africa. The movement ballooned by the 1980s and everything
from fruit to cigarettes and alcohol were on a list of South
African products to avoid.
* The movement also lobbied supermarkets around the world
like Britain's Tesco to stop stocking South African products.
DISCOURAGING BREASTFEEDING
* Shoppers and activists boycotted Nestle NESN.S in the
mid-1970s over claims it discouraged breastfeeding by promoting
breast milk substitutes. The degree to which the boycott
impacted sales is unclear, but a subsequent international
marketing code was developed by the World Health Organisation to
prevent the comparison of manufactured baby milk with
breastmilk, and Nestle responded with its own policy based on
the WHO code during the 1980s.
CRUELTY TO SHEEP
* Driven by activism group PETA, animal-loving U.S. shoppers
waged a nine-month boycott in 2004 and 2005 against Italian
fashion brand Benetton for using "cruelly obtained Australian
wool." PETA, which at one point descended upon Benetton's
headquarters, alleged a "gruesome Australian procedure" called
"mulesing" - removing strips of skin from live sheep - was used
in the production of wool used for the company's clothing.
Benetton maintained that it had "no involvement" in mulesing. It
was unclear if the boycott impacted sales.
TRANSGENDER AND LGBTQ+ MARKETING
* Brewer Anheuser-Busch's Bud Light lost its position as the
top U.S. beer after a transgender influencer promoted the beer
on social media in April 2023, resulting in a conservative
backlash. The company’s stock is still down 9% since the release
of the promotion which took place as part of Bud Light’s March
Madness contest.
* U.S. retailer Target encountered confrontations between
customers and employees, along with incidents of merchandise
being thrown on the floor, following the launch of its
LGBTQ-themed collection for Pride Month, celebrated in June. In
response to the backlash, the company removed the controversial
items from all its stores and website just days after the
collection’s debut in May 2023.
(Reporting by Richa Naidu, Siddharth Cavale and Aishwarya
Venugopal; Editing by Vanessa O'Connell and Frank Jack Daniel)
((richa.naidu@tr.com; Follow me on X https://twitter.com/Richa_Writes;
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