Doesn anyone have other figures. The press is very keen to get more.

March 28th

Except for the Middle East -some companies lost already up to 65% business- and Brazil we still have no numbers of drop in sales.
An independent source said yesterday that McDonald=B4s sales in Rio de Janeiro City has fallen 20 pct lately. On March 27th the Financial Times (1) brought the news that "Coca-Cola favourability ratings are in free fall. A survey published last week by the Pew Research Centre in Washington, DC, showed they tumbled from 75 per cent to 48 per cent in Britain over the past year. And that was just the good news. In France they were down from 63 per cent to 31 per cent, in Russia from 61 per cent to 28 per cent and in Turkey from 30 per cent to just 12 per cent." The FT continues with "Who cares? Plummeting favourability ratings have not deflected President George W. Bush from pursuing the war in Iraq. But beyond the political realm, big American consumer brands such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Marlboro are paying a price as boycotts spread from the Middle East to the rest of the world, especially Europe." The Belgian newsagency made a short survey by calling large distribution. They denied any effect two days ago. However we learned from a contact from a trade union -in distribution!!- that the effects are there already and emergency plans seem to circulate to offer alternatives to consumers avoiding US products. Some trade union members already propose to set up a solidarity fund for Belgian workers who will be hit by the anti-war protests in which trade unions have joined the past months.

(1) Anti-war sentiment is likely to give fresh impetus to the waning supremacy of US brands as markets fragment and other countries, By Richard Tomkins, Financial Times, March 27 2003

Pol D'Huyvetter