#BoycottWoolworths

#BoycottWoolworths

According to BDS, the South African route of dealing with issues is sitting down and talking about them but Woolworths took a different route. South Africans are angered by Woolworths’ affiliation with a country that oppresses human rights and Woolworths refuses to change suppliers; could it be that “woolworths is not with us”?

 Woolworths’ decision to stay away from interviews was rather safe considering the fact that racism is one of the most controversial topics especially in South African history. Although Woolies refused to take any interviews, they did release statements.

The statements released

 I think that their statement about the rights of their customers to shop where they want and the rights of their employees to safety at work was quite defensive yet factual in the sense that, they do abide by the laws yet their ethical conduct was questioned. One may say that it’s funny how Woolworths wants to promote people’s rights where it suits them yet still supports a country that oppresses people’s rights but woolworths did say that the area where 0.1% of their goods comes from is not occupied.

Their refusal to back down indicated that they will not change their trading partners because of public opinion and in this case public opinion that was influenced by BDS. I respect their stand but at the same time public opinion is why they are so successful in the sense that this is the same public that they want to appeal to, the same public whose needs they exist to satisfy.  

Reputation

Woolworths is transparent hence credible because they did not hide where they got their goods from and they were not secretive about their responses although they dodged all platforms for their responses to be questioned.

 By taking a stand and sticking to their trade partner, they indicated loyalty as a brand hence their customers’ loyalty to them.

This campaign launched a whole lot of discrimination against woolworths with statements that were not necessarily true. All of a sudden someone apparently found a used condom in their sandwiches which was never confirmed true but rather it could’ve been a stunt to give people even more reason to boycott woolworths.

Woolworths recognized the post and gave a response telling people that the matter would be investigated. Had Woolworths agreed to an interview, they wouldn’t have been so vulnerable to public scrutiny because they would be able to respond and give their side of the story.

#RhodesMustFall

If you never saw or heard of #RhodesMustFall on Social Media or Newspapers or the grapevine then your only excuse is that you were not born until 2015. It was literally in your face, everywhere you go like MTN. When the campaign started in March 2015 at UCT, it went so viral that Oxford University joined the movement. Because of social media the movement that started as just UCT students trying to eliminate an element of the constitutional racism became an international battle against racism. The campaign for the removal of the statue received global attention and triggered a wider movement to decolonizeeducation in all of South Africa.

This in my opinion presents a very successful campaign but on UCT’s part it presents failure to contain a situation. Had UCT addressed the issue the moment it started, and opened dialogue with the protesting students, the issue wouldn’t have lingered for so long and it wouldn’t have had such a catastrophic impact.

The most interesting argument on this matter is the idea that the #RhodesMustFall campaign is an attempt to erase history, the same history that made us who we are today. The Rhodes statue is simply a symbol of where we come from. Why take town the monument instead of putting up a new one to symbolise where we are now? Years from now, someone may want to take down a statue of Nelson Mandela, goodluck stopping that because we took down Rhodes. The controversy surrounding this issue was quite thrilling.

Maybe UCT should have used social media to counter all the negative publicity by using the hashtag on twitter to provide information about its plans. This way, when people search for #RhodesMustFall they won’t only find the negative public opinion but also UCT’s side of the story which gives UCT some sort of control over the situation.

When journalists started covering the #RhodesMustFall story, UCT should’ve also given interviews so that media coverage is not only dependent on public opinion but rather a balanced view of both facts and opinions. Now that all of this information is out there, black people will be skeptical when applying to UCT because they fear being enrolled in an institution where they will fall victim to racism. In as much as it may be over now but people cannot take back or erase their statements therefore the dent on UCT’s reputation remains.