M’sian Shares Why We Shouldn’t Be So Quick To Boycott Brands

Many Malaysians are still opting to boycott certain brands for their affiliation with Israel after the Palestine and Israel issue.

Brands such as Coca-Cola and McDonald’s have been targeted by NGOs and the community after their foreign counterparts had, in one way or another, supported Israel throughout the conflict.

Eric* (name changed for privacy purposes) took to his Facebook profile to explain why boycotting these brands wouldn’t really help anyone but would affect the millions of Malaysians who have been working behind the scenes of these brands.

He wrote, “For every McD burger you boycott, it affects:

1. The Malaysian who served you at the counter or delivered it to you on a motorbike.
2. The Malaysian who packed it.
3. The Malaysian who made it on the grill.
4. The Malaysian who took it out of the freezer.
5. The Malaysian who stored it in the freezer.
6. The Malaysian who carried it to the freezer.
7. The Malaysian who drove the truck.
8. The Malaysian who loaded the truck.
9. The Malaysian who handles the warehouse.
10. The Malaysian who sent it to the warehouse.
11. The Malaysian who handled the paperwork for all of the above.
12. The Malaysian who shipped the product in.
13. The Malaysian who cleared the halal status of those products.
14. The Malaysians who work for the port, the shipping line and the forwarding agents.
15. The Malaysians who own the McDonald’s store franchise.
16. The Malaysian who owns the national franchise.
17. The Malaysians working in the locally incorporated company supporting that franchise.
18. The Saudis owning the global chain.

Through a long, spotty, convoluted line; maybe, just maybe, some guy very, very far up along the chain who makes a very minuscule percentage of the profit that you assume will hurt him/her, taking into perspective the proportion of the global fast-food trade, taking into account currency considerations, tax, loss of distance, the law of diminishing returns etc.

Same for Coca-Cola and the same for Starbucks. For every one per cent that you want to try and hurt, you end up hurting the 99 per cent of people you don’t intend to.”

It is understandable to want to stand in support of those who are suffering, but without their jobs, these Malaysians would suffer too.

And at the end of the day, they just want to make an honest living so that they can put food on the table for their loved ones and for themselves.

Hence, let’s try to keep that in mind, the next time we consider boycotting a brand.

What do you think about this? Let us know in the comment section.

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