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Foster's quits after boycott threat (r)



Subject: Re: Foster's quits after boycott threat (SMH)

The next target is Budweiser, which has cynically entered the Burma market
to snare market share from responsible companies such as Heineken and
Carlsburg.  Since Budweiser has worldwide distribution, the boycott should
be coordinated worldwide.  It's coming soon.

LD

On 18 Apr 1997 kwia@xxxxxx wrote:

> From: KWIA Werkgroep Birma <kwia@xxxxxx>
> Subject: Foster's quits after boycott threat (SMH)
> 
> >X-URL: http://www.smh.com.au/daily/content/970417/world/world5.html
> >
> >
> >     BURMA
> >
> >     Thursday, April 17, 1997
> >
> >Foster's quits after threat of Australian-led boycott
> >
> >     By MARK BAKER, Herald Correspondent in Bangkok
> >
> >     Foster's Brewing Group has quit the Burmese beer market - the first
> >     Australian company to react to domestic consumer protests over
> >     human rights abuses by Rangoon's military regime.
> >
> >     A spokeswoman for Foster's confirmed that the company had ordered a
> >     halt to all direct beer sales to Burma and had instructed its local
> >     distributors to stop advertising and promoting its products.
> >
> >     Public confirmation of the Burma pull-out came after a coalition of
> >     student and Burmese activist groups based in Victoria called last
> >     week for a national consumer boycott of Foster's beer.
> >
> >     The company spokeswoman said Foster's chief executive, Mr Ted
> >     Kunkel, had decided to abandon the Burmese market late last year,
> >     but denied that the decision was in response to political pressure.
> >
> >     "It's a business decision based on a full range of factors you'd
> >     normally include in a business decision in Asia," she said.
> >
> >     Asked whether those factors included human rights abuses and
> >     consumer boycotts, she said: "I couldn't comment on that, but
> >     naturally we'd prefer not to get involved in any political
> >     assessment."
> >
> >     Foster's has been selling beer to Burma for more than a decade
> >     through a Singapore-based distributor. While a relatively small
> >     player in the Burmese market, it had a high profile with large
> >     advertising hoardings around the capital, Rangoon.
> >
> >     Activist groups in Australia have been targeting companies trading
> >     and investing with Burma, accusing the military regime of
> >     widespread human rights abuses and political repression.
> >
> >     United States and European companies have responded strongly over
> >     the past year to consumer-led protests and a call by the Burmese
> >     democracy leader, Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, for an international trade
> >     boycott.
> >
> >     European brewers Carlsberg and Heineken abandoned the Burmese
> >     market last year, and PepsiCo severed its last links with Burma
> >     earlier this year after campus protests across the US.
> >
> >     Other big international names to boycott Burma in recent months
> >     include Eastman Kodak, Levi Strauss, Walt Disney, Hewlett-Packard
> >     and Apple.
> >
> >     Some US states have legislated to ban trade with Burma and the
> >     Clinton Administration has threatened to impose economic sanctions
> >     if political repression worsens.
> >
> >     Australian exports to Burma rose by a third to $13.8 million last
> >     year, mainly in electrical equipment, machinery and spare parts.
> >
> >     [8]Signpost
> >
> >      This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying
> >      or mirroring is prohibited.
> >
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----
> KWIA Steungroep Inheemse Volkeren - KWIA Supportgroup for Indigenous peoples
> Birma Werkgroep - Burma Group
> Breughelstraat 31-33, 2018 Antwerpen, BELGIUM
> Tel. 32-3-2188488     32-3-2377615
> Fax  32-3-2304540
> KWIA@xxxxxx
> 
>