February 15, 2017

CEOs paying some attention to boycotts

Bloomberg - A Weber Shandwick study, set to be released Wednesday, found that 57 percent of top executives believe that boycotts can affect a company’s bottom line. The survey polled more than 1,000 executives and 2,100 consumers around the globe last year, just as Donald Trump was wrapping up the Republican nomination on his way to the White House.

The president himself urged consumers to boycott brands while on the campaign trail, including Macy’s Inc. and Oreo cookies. More recently, he upbraided Nordstrom Inc. for dropping the product line of daughter Ivanka, opening another front in the boycott wars.

Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc., Starbucks Corp., Nike Inc., Uber Technologies Inc., Under Armour Inc. and Kellogg Co. are just some of the companies that have faced the wrath of infuriated consumers on both sides in the past year. Their reactions have included direct challenges to the president’s policies, attempts to stay above the fray by appearing nonpolitical -- and silence.

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