#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.