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Mmmmm. Cheese. 
It seems that despite their pathetic limp wristedness in some parts of the world, Carrefour’s solidarity with the Islamic and Egyptian community does not stretch very far, as they are happily selling Denmark’s splendid cheese here in Warsaw.
This still does not make me like them very much (although they are generally a well run business). It does lead to a question, which is what happens when a boycott and a buycott collide? Given that they stock it, is it okay for me to buy Danish cheese from Carrefour. Obviously it is better for me to go and buy the Danish cheese from a different shop down the road, but what if I can not?
Such is the dilemma I face as I head for the airport and the flight back to London from Poland.
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Buy the cheese if you like it. Exercise your freedom of choice because that isexactly the thing the mullahs are trying to stop you from doing.
Anyhow, the more Danish cheese you buy from Carrefour, the more they’ll realise that they’ve made a bloody stupid mistake.
Is there a Carrefour in London? Where?
Guy,
It seems that Michael Jennings was in Warsaw at the time of writing.
Can’t say I’ve seen a Carrefour in London at any time, anyway.
I think the most Continental British retail gets is Aldi and Lidl.
So we should discount Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and the other quality supermarkets in the UK? And if Carrefour = ‘continental’ give me Aldi or Morrisons any day thanks.
Buycott takes precedence. Doing good is more important than punishing evil.
I can’t believe how expensive that cheese is! I bought some Danish cheese yesterday – Rosenberg from Denmark – for less than 1/3 that! I also bought a very nice bottle of Chilean Merlot for around £3.50 My local supermarket also has a nice Cabernet from a vineyard around two miles from where I lived in France for the same price. Adolpho mangoes are around 54P a kilo. Mangoes from the Philippines are slightly cheaper. Huge Mexican papayas are cheaper still. Foodstuffs in Europe and Britain are a giant, giant rip-off.
Completely agree. Also, the buycott is more likely to be effective. I’ve seen a lot of postings on the net urging people to buy Danish but very few saying anything about Carrefour.
But of course, if it’s possible to buy Danish things somewhere else, seems like a good idea.
A few days ago, there was a big spread on Samizdata, concerning some anti-Danish policy in Carrefour supermarket in some unspecified country, with a photo of anti-Danish product “propaganda”, in Arabic script (language unknown to me) and in English (but not in French). This posting has now dropped off the easily available Samizdata list, though I am sure I could find it if I looked and computed hard enough.
In the comments on this past posting, I recollect serious doubt being expressed, as to whether the anti-Danish policy was down to Carrefour (alone), who owned Carrefour, in what nations the criticised policy was applied, and whether that policy was down to split ownership of corporate subsidiaries, with companies of the local nationality effectively forced by the trading policy of the appropriate national government.
Having read all that, I was substantially in doubt as to whether Carrefour, which I see as a French supermarket chain with international spread, was in fact materially to blame for the shown anti-Danish policy.
Is there any chance that Perry, or a colleague, might issue a summary of the facts, as they are now known, so that those of us who nip through the Chunnel from time to time might know wether there is any serious basis on which we might wish to vary our prevailling cheese purchasing policies.
Best regards
Verity,
“I can’t believe how expensive that cheese is! I bought some Danish cheese yesterday – Rosenberg from Denmark – for less than 1/3 that!”
Remember, that’s in Poland and priced in Zloty’s, not Euros or Sterling. Z30.99 is roughly $10.30 US, not that bad for the real thing, at least where I live.
Cheers!
Jonathan Bailey – Thank you; I had assumed it was euros.
Only barely on topic, I brought back some very nice Polish salami and other Polish sausage, which was vastly cheaper than in London. I might invite friends over for lunch on the weekend.
In the comments on this past posting, I recollect serious doubt being expressed, as to whether the anti-Danish policy was down to Carrefour (alone), who owned Carrefour, in what nations the criticised policy was applied, and whether that policy was down to split ownership of corporate subsidiaries, with companies of the local nationality effectively forced by the trading policy of the appropriate national government.
From my vantage point in Dubai, and hence knowing exactly how things work out here, if the local partner company Al-Futtaim ordered a ban on Danish products, there is little Carrefour could do about it. Here, we play by their rules. Hence most of us come here, make as much money s we can quickly, then leave and never look back.
Carrefour is still indirectly responsible for allowing its most valuable single asset – its brand – to be abused by entering into partnerships with such organisations.
James Waterton, you are correct. But honestly, could you, as a top executive with Carrefour, dealing with people in Dubai who seemed perfectly courteous and friendly and who had proven success in business, have had a sudden conviction that actually, they are all wild-eyed loons? I doubt it.
You would have had teams of accountants going over figures and have make your commercial decision based on those projections. You wouldn’t suddenly have thought, “Hey what if a small country in Europe to our north suddenly ‘insults’ Islam and their co-religionists decide to torch embassies in Lagos?”
To be fair to Carrefours, there is no way they could have predicted this crap because they are sane and logical people.
I would be interested to see what happens next. My guess, pull out of the ME once things settle down and go and build more facilities in China, where the people are considerably more grounded.
Thanks for explaining the currency thing, I was looking at what I thought was the 40 euro/kg and having an aneurism.
Thinking: time to start smuggling danish cheese into the EU from the US. I’ll need a mother ship, fast boats, and mafia of cheese lovers to distribute…. Oh, nevermind.
“Mmmm… cheese, Grommit!”