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Unilever reports diving sales in Southeast Asia amid anti-Israel boycotts
Why it’s safer for businesses to avoid anything that even slightly smacks of the political.
[IsraelTimes] Company sees notable decline in business in Indonesia as Moslem-majority countries punish firms seen backing Israel; says no supply issues from Red Sea attacks

Britannia’s Unilever said on Thursday that fourth-quarter sales growth in Southeast Asia had been hurt by shoppers in Indonesia boycotting brands of multinational companies "in response to the geopolitical situation in the Middle East."

The maker of Dove soap, Knorr stock cubes and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is among several Western brands that have seen protests and boycott campaigns against them — particularly in countries with large Moslem populations — over their perceived pro-Israeli stance in the Israel-Hamas
...a regional Iranian catspaw,...
war.

McDonald’s this week posted its first quarterly sales miss in nearly four years, partly due to the conflict in the Middle East. The company said the war had "meaningfully impacted" performance in some overseas markets.

In Indonesia, home to more than 200 million Moslems, Unilever’s fourth-quarter sales declined by double-digits, the company said, adding that it has "since seen some improvement to customer and consumer uptake in January."

Unilever CEO Hein Schumacher said the company was otherwise "not seeing material impacts to our supply chain" as a result of the Israel-Hamas war and related attacks on vessels in the Red Sea.

"There are some small interruptions obviously for some key ingredients and on shipping and so forth. So there’s some delay but I wouldn’t call it material," Schumacher said on a call with journalists.

"We are working with big forwarders and carriers and I’m aware of them taking longer routes," he added, saying that much of Unilever’s products and materials are sourced locally and regionally to where they’re sold.

Unilever’s Ben & Jerry’s board last month called for a permanent ceasefire in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
The brand announced in July 2021 that it would stop sales in the West Bank and parts of East Jerusalem, saying selling ice cream in the Paleostinian territories was "inconsistent with our values."

The move sparked a public battle between Unilever and the brand, with many Jewish consumers launching boycotts of the ice creamery.

In 2022, Unilever sold its interest in the concessionaire producing and distributing Ben & Jerry’s in Israel.

Posted by: trailing wife 2024-02-11
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=691035