Many Egyptian social media users have joined an online campaign called “Boycott: Don’t Pay for the Bullets that Kill Your Brothers” encouraging the boycott of US and other products in protest against the Western support for Israel’s war on Gaza.
The movement gained momentum when images surfaced of Israeli soldiers dining at a well-known US fast food chain. In response, many Egyptians criticised the brand and called for a boycott. Soon enough, pictures of empty outlets of the chain in Egypt circulated.
The boycott has driven the company owning the franchise in Egypt to issue a statement saying that it is 100 per cent owned by an Egyptian businessman.
It said that the company is a major economic contributor to Egypt, providing over 400,000 job opportunities, both directly and indirectly, for Egyptian citizens and their families. The company has a 30-year history of launching pioneering development initiatives to serve Egyptian society, the statement added.
The company said that its connection to the international chain is limited to using the brand locally through a franchise agreement and gaining expertise from the international chain to deliver top-quality customer service.
It expressed its respect for the Egyptian community and stressed that its activities are independent of the actions of other franchises of the brand in other countries.
However, the statement has done little to convince the public to end their boycott. Some people began placing large food orders, but then refused to accept them, or abruptly ended phone calls when delivery personnel arrived, all in attempts to inflict financial losses on the company.
In response, the company then released a second statement expressing its compassion for the Palestinian families killed during the war and announcing a donation of LE20 million to contribute to relief efforts and aligned with Egyptian government initiatives to alleviate their hardships.
The funds will be directed towards providing essential medical supplies through the Misr Al-Kheir Foundation, while the Egyptian Food Bank will supply food products, the statement noted.
One of the foreign hypermarkets operating in Egypt also responded to calls for a boycott by encouraging customers to support the people of Gaza by donating to the Egyptian Red Crescent through donation boxes or by contributing spare change at its branches.
The company said it had donated LE30 million to the Egyptian Red Crescent to aid the people of Gaza.
Another statement by the hypermarket reported that its employees had volunteered with the Egyptian Red Crescent to assemble medical and food supplies to be sent to Gaza.
Amid persistent calls for a boycott, the hypermarket released a third statement to clarify that the group holds exclusive rights to operate the brand in 15 countries across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. It stressed its support for individuals and communities in these regions.
The scope of the boycott campaign has also expanded to other brands and products, extending from consumers to some store owners. Some vendors have chosen not to stock goods manufactured or exported from countries that do not support Palestine, while others have opted to only sell existing inventory, displaying signs that the “products support the Zionist entity.”
The campaign, which has ricocheted through Egyptian society, has been consistently posting about made-in-Egypt brands as an alternative to the boycotted products.
Some stores have refrained from joining the campaign, whole others have offered discounts on products the public is boycotting.
According to the manager of one foreign wholesale market, the popular boycott campaign has not had a significant impact, however. Most people continue to purchase the products as usual, he said, with only individual cases refraining from doing so.
Some Egyptians also oppose the boycott campaign, arguing that the companies targeted employ Egyptian nationals. They point out that the trademark owners or manufacturers with the franchise rights are Egyptian businessmen, and it is Egyptians who will be harmed by the boycotts, not the parent companies.
Nadi Azzam, a financial analyst, said that governments do not typically endorse boycott calls because they affect international trade agreements.
Popular boycotts likely yield no tangible benefits and have little effect, he said, attributing the decline in the value of some of the companies’ shares to the events in the region and the increase in global oil prices, rather than the boycotts themselves.
Boycotts do not substantially impact a company’s profits or its stock price, particularly when it comes to companies like Google and Facebook, he noted.
Omnia Helmi, an economics professor at Cairo University, disagreed, however, saying that Egypt wields considerable purchasing power within the Middle East and Arab region. If the consumption of certain products diminishes, it will certainly affect the companies making them, she said.
It will also send a message to the world and serve as an expression of resistance.
According to Mohamed Ramadan, an economics researcher, boycotts can impact the profits of boycotted companies. They affect the fees paid to parent companies abroad in exchange for the use of trademarks or the right to manufacture specific commodities.
A decrease in sales naturally reflects on the profits of the companies concerned, he said.
A boycott is a significant tool, Ramadan said, but in order for it to be effective, it should be a collective effort, not an individual one. He believes it is more potent when coordinated between the public and the government and local alternatives are available.
Regarding potential negative consequences for workers in the companies concerned in Egypt, Helmi said that these workers have regular jobs, and it is unlikely that the companies will resort to layoffs.
Ramadan acknowledged that there may be some negative impacts on workers, but their rights could mitigate these.
Most of the boycotted companies issue frequent market indicators and quarterly reports detailing their profits and losses, Helmi said, making it possible to track the effects of the boycott campaigns.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 2 November, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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