In recent weeks, dozens of stores in the UK and Ireland have been targeted by banner-wielding protestors from groups demanding a boycott of Israeli goods, with Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and M&S all in the firing line. And scenes of supermarket managers standing between lines of police and protestors as peacekeepers have not been uncommon.
But the situation took a new twist last weekend when the manager of a Sainsbury’s in Holborn, London, finding a group of chanting protestors bearing down on her store, ordered staff to clear all chilled kosher products from shelves.
Within hours the retailer faced a furious reaction from angry Jews, accusing it of carrying out the retail equivalent of ethnic cleansing - one tweet called it a ‘food pogrom.’
This is not the first time Sainsbury’s has been targeted. Earlier this month Sainsbury’s stores across London, including Brixton (pictured) were the focus of flash mob protests demanding a boycott of foods imported from Israeli West Bank settlements, while hundreds joined demonstrations at Sainsbury’s stores across over 30 UK towns and cities, including Edinburgh, Birmingham, Sheffield and Manchester.
In Ireland, too, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco have seen Israeli goods, including potatoes, fruit and herbs, removed from shelves by occupying protestors. And in July a Tesco in Manchester was forced to batten down its shutters after hundreds of protestors threatened to invade the store.
Even last Saturday, when the Sainsbury’s Holborn brouhaha was kicking off, Palestinian protestors also stormed a Tesco in Birmingham, with police called to the scene allegedly assaulted and customers said to have been terrorised, while stock was strewn across the store.
But it is the actions of the Holborn store manager that has attracted most controversy.
Sainsbury’s sells kosher groceries in 120 stores, chilled in 55 and frozen in 40, and in Holborn not only were some of those taken down by staff but there were reports on social media that staff expressed support for the protests.
Nowhere stronger was the backlash than from former Tory MP and author Louise Mensch, who accused Sainsbury’s of antisemitism. “Dear @Sainsburys kosher is JEWISH food. Israel is a COUNTRY. How DARE YOU equate Jews’ food to ISRAEL, how dare you,” she wrote. “Sainsbury’s are the scum of the earth as a company for taking away kosher food rather than contacting police. Evil racism from them.”
Grovelling
A Sainsbury’s source described her comment as “extraordinary” but it was forced into a grovelling apology as many more waded in. “We would like to apologise for any inconvenience or offence caused,” it said. “The decision was taken in one store only to move these chilled products to cold storage elsewhere in that store for a short period on Saturday as a precautionary measure during a demonstration close by. They were returned to shelf as soon as was practically possible.”
And a source familiar with the situation supported the suggestion that this was an isolated incident. “As soon as you remove anything from the chilled chain, it’s unfit for sale, and I think it’s pretty telling that the store didn’t remove anything from the ambient shelves, which scotches the idea that they supported the boycott.
“This sort of situation can easily escalate out of control”
“What this person was doing was what she felt was in the best interests of the company. If you are a duty manager at a medium-sized supermarket you’re not going to be a geo-political analyst.”So what should store managers be doing as groups promise further action, and how can retailers protect staff and stock and avoid bad publicity?
Simon Johnson, chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, has called on retailers to “act responsibly” and “avoid the retail environment being used to delegitimise the State of Israel.” “This sort of situation can easily escalate. Store managers don’t realise the impact of what they are doing,” adds one leading Jewish source.
PR and branding experts also advise supermarkets to act with great sensitivity. “It’s very dangerous when a brand becomes embroiled in politics. They just mustn’t,” says branding expert Jonathan Gabay. “I can’t believe a store like the one in Holborn, close to the scene of many previous protests, wasn’t better prepared.”
Sainsbury’s insists it will not be taking disciplinary action but Gabay says that, too, is a mistake. “You can’t simply say ‘it’s not our fault, this was just a rogue manager.’”
Michael Bennett, MD of Manchester based food and drink PR specialists Pelican Communications, believes this is “a salutary lesson” for the whole food industry. “We’re very good at handling food recalls but less good at handling political situations.”
“It was obviously very unfortunate to remove the kosher products and the social media backlash has been immense, but in any crisis the first thing to do is to be in contact with the PR team who are on call 24/7, so either there was a breakdown or a misunderstanding.”
“What Sainsbury’s must do is to demonstrate it has made a genuine mistake and that it won’t happen again,” he adds.
Bennett adds that while supermarkets have been increasingly targeting different ethnic and religious groups with specialised food offerings, the experiences of the last few weeks shows how carefully they must tread. “Not so long ago we had the whole row over the labelling of halal goods,” he says. “That caused outrage as well.”
In the meantime, Tesco says it has contacted staff involved in incidents but is not issuing a warning or communication more widely, as the protests are “very limited.”
Increasing threat
However, Kevin Squires, campaign coordinator of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which has staged demonstrations at stores including Tesco, Aldi and Lidl, says campaigning is only likely to step up.
As well as picketing stores, IPSC has been filling trollies with Israeli goods and calling on store managers to remove them from sale - though Squires condemned the manner of the latest protests in the UK.
“What I saw in Birmingham was boxes of Coca Cola scattered on the floor, which shows a real misunderstanding. It’s completely unrealistic to expect a boycott of multinational companies like Coca-Cola and Nestlé and anyone who has ever done any business with Israel.”
Squires, though, says it’s not unrealistic to expect supermarkets to cave in to pressure, pointing out it is 30 years since a strike among Dunnes staff in Dublin, in which staff were sacked for refusing to handle South African fruit, snowballed into a country-wide ban, later described by Nelson Mandela as a significant turning point in the fight against apartheid.
“Take Tesco’s decision to not import fruit from the illegally occupied land in the West Bank,” he says. “This was a victory for us and a sign that even companies as big as Tesco will sit up and take notice. What we’re saying to the supermarkets now is that it’s time to stand on the right side of history.”
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