Widespread boycotts of western brands

[rogermunibond]

https://www.ft.com/content/a2ee3452-ed34-45a1-8515-a88841c9ed31

 

Muslim countries seeing boycotts of western brand consumer goods and restaurants.  A lot of companies are unwilling to call attention to it.

 

During second-quarter earnings updates, many multinationals were hesitant to address the issue head on, referring vaguely to geopolitical tensions, while a few attempted to directly quantify the impact.

Luca Zaramella, chief financial officer of snack maker Mondelez, said the boycotts “remained a headwind”, weighing down Middle East sales growth by 2 per cent in the second quarter. Beauty group L’Oréal equally said the boycotts had a 2 percentage point drag on growth in the first half of the year.