by bgetch.

Victims of Colombia’s bloody civil conflict filed an almost $8 billion lawsuit against the U.S. banana importer Chiquita Brands International on Wednesday for making payments to a paramilitary group responsible for thousands of killings. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5302660.html

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by bgetch.

The pot pies have been linked to at least 272 cases of salmonella in 35 states.

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by bgetch.

Whether its recalled toys, Darfur, Tibet,  the environment, or a half dozen other issues, the Beijing Olympics represent a target-rich environment for NGOs and activist groups who will be focusing their ire at corporate sponsors. 

No doubt PR reps at Coke, Adidas, Visa, Panasonic, GE and McDonalds have had a long run-up to create stories about cooperative initiatives.  Interest groups won’t make much hay as they are likely to compete for attention rather than coalesce around one issue.   Look for media to be blase about protests as a result. 

From the Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

Already, some activist groups say they are broadening
their attention from attacking China’s government to targeting Olympic
sponsors.

General Electric wind turbines at farms outside Beijing will supply power to Olympic venues.

In letters sent last month to Olympic sponsors, Robert
Ménard, secretary-general of Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based
group promoting global press freedom, warned: "We plan to publicly
challenge those companies that are participants in the Beijing Games
without doing anything in the area of human rights. We will address
their shareholders, their clients and the general public."

Next week, Olympic Dream for Darfur, a New York-based
activist group protesting China’s support for the armed conflict in
Sudan, plans to release a report grading 19 Olympic corporate sponsors
on their attempts to influence the Chinese government. (The group gave
passing grades to only a few sponsors.) China has been under pressure
because it has large investments in Sudan and is perceived to be using
its influence to prevent United Nations intervention in the conflict.

The Darfur activists are a force to be reckoned with:
In the last year, pressure from such groups has prompted some 20 U.S.
states and several universities, including Harvard, to divest billions
of dollars from companies linked to Sudan. "This will only get more
uncomfortable for organizers and sponsors," says Jill Savitt, the
group’s director.

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by bgetch.

Chevron Corp. today agreed to pay $30 million to settle charges over its alleged role in illegal payments to Iraq related to oil purchaes made in 2001 and 2002 through the United Nation’s oil-for-food program, federal regulators said.

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by bgetch.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2007/11/06/yahoo-berated-at-house-hearing/trackback/

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by bgetch.

NGOs like Reporters without Borders will no doubt see the opportunity to repackage the wave of 2006 news and protests about Yahoo! and their censorship role in China.  Yahoo! was considered the worst offender, according to some reports. 

Microsoft, Yahoo! and others attempted to get the government to intervene on their behalf  but were dismissed by Rep. Lantos.  Lantos is the same Congressional member who stung Yahoo! with his "moral pygmies" quote.

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by bgetch.

The New York Times offered a more than fair story on Wal-Mart’s improved health care program.  The story included data that Wal-Mart makes access to health care easier than Target and Starbucks.

The company also received muted praise from Andrew Stern at the Service Employees International Union, whose group has dogged Wal-Mart, along with United Food and Commercial Workers.

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by bgetch.

Burson-Marsteller is about to lower the curtain on a very different type of media tour: Shell Oil Presidnet JOHN Hofmeister’s  "Why can’t we be friends?" jaunt through 50 cities.

I remember seeing the USA Today story back in May and thought it an unusual approach.  The tour is coming to an end in Atlanta this week.  Aside from suggestions, a stack of clips and a list of names, it will be interesting to see how this is transferred to meet Shell’s objectives of increasing drilling.

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by bgetch.

It is purely my gut feeling, but the Yahoo incident in which the company provided Chinese authorities information about two journalists’ online activities and their subsequent jailing by government authorities, has real legs. 

The company — wisely — settled a lawsuit with the journalists families in short order, but this one has reputational bite.  Here are three reasons why (again, instinct) this feels like an brand transforming event.

1. Violates core identity: Like so many consumer-embraced brands, Yahoo! was built on fun, irreverence and a renegade spirit (banjo music + hillbilly yodel).  Yahoo! users are more sophisticated online types and this kind of perceived "sell out"  is a blow to the heart of the company’s customer base; a fact that Cisco, Microsoft and others who have had similar episodes don’t have to face.
2. Privacy Violation = Anger: People have such a visceral, angry reaction to their privacy being compromised.  In this case, compromised privacy got people locked up. The visual of family members sitting behind executives during Congressional testimony was a killer, as well.  So too was the family’s heartbreak.
3. Confirms Cynicism:  The whole episode confirms many folks’ worst cynicism about what companies will do to access lucrative markets.

Here’s a letter in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required until Murdoch waives) that captures a pervasive sentiment:

The real story of "Yahoo’s Lashing Highlights Risks of China Market"
(page one, Nov. 7) is that two highly remunerated corporate executives
exposed their inability to weave, bob and obfuscate despite being
advised by an army of high-powered attorneys and image consultants.
They exposed their personal weaknesses, the reality that Yahoo Inc.
never had direct control over their own employees in China, and that
the "masters of the universe" may have money but no sound moral and
ethical principles.

This isn’t so much a China issue as one that relates
to the get-rich-at-any-cost culture inherent in our
entrepreneurially-driven world.

Jack C. Fensterstock

Bethesda, Md.

A tempting response is, "Hey, everybody is doing it" (conforming to oppressive Chinese laws).  As this insightful blogger points out:

Cisco is hardly alone in helping China keep the jackboot to the neck of
its people. Skype, an EBay Inc. subsidiary, helps the Chinese
government monitor and censor text messaging. Microsoft Corp. likewise
is a willing conscript in China’s Internet policing army, as Bill
Gates’ minions regularly cleanse the Chinese blogosphere. Google Inc.’s
brainiacs, meanwhile, have built a special Chinese version of their
powerful search engine to filter out things as diverse as the BBC,
freeing Tibet and that four-letter word in China — democracy.

The greatest stumble  — and talk about cynicism — was Yahoo’s very poor performance at the government hearings.  They looked ill-prepared and the sharks lapped up the blood in the water. 

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by bgetch.

Classic confrontation.  In an impoverished area of Romania, gold has been found on the outskirts of  a village.  Most villagers are happy to sell their homes and hope to see some measure of prosperity and  commerce come to them.  Environmentalists supported by George Soros are fighting the mine development and reference the use of cyanide in the mining procedure.  Celebrities/environmentalists like Vanessa Redgrave are engaged, as well.

Not much surprise of where the editorial writers from the Wall Street Journal come down but it is interesting to note how they frame the debate of environmentalists loving the earth and hating people…a theme sure to be repeated.

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