British company Unilever said on Thursday that its sales growth in Southeast Asia was affected during the fourth quarter of last year due to shoppers in Indonesia boycotting brands of multinational companies “in response to the geopolitical situation in the Middle East.”
The manufacturer of Dove soap, Knorr broth cubes, and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is among many Western brands that have been subjected to protests and boycott campaigns, especially in countries with large Muslim populations, because of its pro-Israel stance in the ongoing conflict with Hamas.
This week, McDonald’s recorded the first decline in its quarterly sales in nearly four years, and the decline is relatively due to the conflict in the Middle East. The company said that the war had a “significant impact” on performance in some foreign markets.
Unilever said its sales in Indonesia, which is home to more than 200 million Muslims, fell by double digits in the fourth quarter.
It added that it has “since seen some improvement in customer and consumer usage in January.”
Unilever CEO Hein Schumacher said the company “does not see material impacts on our supply chain” as a result of the conflict between Israel and Hamas and related attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
Schumacher added in a phone call with reporters, “It is clear that there are some limited glitches in some of the main components, charging, etc. So there is some delay, but I would not call it a tangible delay.”
He added, “We work with shipping agents and major transportation companies, and I know that they take longer routes,” and pointed out that many of the products and materials used by Unilever are obtained from local and regional sources where they are sold.
The board of directors of Unilever’s Ben & Jerry’s subsidiary last month called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. The brand announced in July 2021 that it would stop sales in the occupied West Bank and areas of East Jerusalem, saying that selling ice cream in the occupied Palestinian territories “is inconsistent with our values.”
In 2022, Unilever sold its stake in Ben & Jerry’s in Israel.
2024-02-08 13:20:28
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