Danish Company disabled by the power of boycott in 5 days.

[AGENDA21]

The Danish-Swedish dairy giant Arla Foods says its sales in the Middle East have plummeted to zero as a result of a row over cartoons published in Denmark.

The firms said it had to lay off 100 people because of the fall in demand.

The row began when a Danish newspaper published a series of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, some of them depicting him as a terrorist.

Anger against Denmark is continuing to grow across the Middle East, despite an apology offered by the newspaper.

Arla Foods, one of Europe's biggest dairy companies, is being hardest hit by a boycott of Danish products across the region.

The company has annual sales of $480m there.

We have taken 40 years to build up a very big business in the Middle East, and we've seen it come to a complete stop in five days

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4666298.stm

[dogday]

1. All I can say is the power of the people

vote with your dollars folks.

[AGENDA21]

6. This is a perfect example of boycott in action

Pick 1 target,and boycott it until desired results have been achieved.

[Mr.Green93]

8. You are siding with Islam

against free speech?

[dogday]

9. I am saying that the people hold the power

I choose no sides. It is their right if they want to do it, why make this an Islam issue anyway?

[rinsd]

10. "why make this an Islam issue anyway"

Because they are protesting the depiction of Mohammed?

:shrug:

[dogday]

11. I am looking at the actions of the people

not at the cause or the ethnicity. Yes the story is about a group of certain people, but it is the actions of the people that I am talking about not who they are or even what they are protesting, but they way they can do it and make it work and we can do it here and make it work if they can.

My answer was more than the surface of the story, mine was the meat of the story.

[NuttyFluffers]

13. what about freedom of purchase?

no one should have to be forced to buy 1 brand of a non-monopolized good. they can vote with their money as they please. note the effective results, something worth learning for us progressive americans...

[mikelewis]

2. Well, what the hell do they expect?

Granted it's not fair that a company not associated with the Newspaper suffers but the reaction is to be expected. I love Danishes so I'm not about to join in the boycott any time soon but damn, that paper needs to get a fricken clue.

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. That their freedom of speech would be respected?

The cartoons weren't as strong as anything Bush faces in American newspapers on a daily basis. Maybe another bit of freedom of speech - burning flags - is justified; but withdrawing an ambassador from Denmark, and boycotting a company just because it's Danish, is over the top.

[pocket]

3. nice to see a grassroots action actually work

for a change.

[AGENDA21]

4. Why cant Americans do this?????

[izzie]

5. And people wonder why newspapers say what they do.

Just think what we could do to a company if we wished. Money talks. Look at Google's stock today. Why we are working to put Ford and GM out of business is something I do not understand or is it I just do not see what the hell the CEO's are doing to their own co.

[rinsd]

7. LOL...DUers cheering on fundamentalists....

[smirkymonkey]

14. Amazing....

DU'ers defending religious fundamentalist creep into Western democracies. Soon there will be no place on the face of the earth that isn't influenced by religious ignorance. :eyes: