UKC

Don't know if this has a thread in the politics forum but even if it does it deserves wider attention anyway.

As many of us on here will be fairly regular customers of Decathlon we should be aware that they are still trading in Russia and their parent company seem to be taking a fairly brazen attitude to sanctions with an intention to expand their Leroy Merlin DIY stores in Russia now that others have pulled out leaving, as they see it, a gap in the market.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-10633339/French-tycoons...

Those domiciled in France or visiting there soon may also wish to consider whether to shop in Auchan, another brand under the same ownership still trading in Russia.

https://blazetrends.com/why-do-auchan-decathlon-and-leroy-merlin-remain-ope...

Well spotted, will avoid them

I don't think the expansion is really acceptable, but sanctions on Russia do not call for businesses to stop trading there, so should we really be boycotting businesses on the basis that they continue to do so?

Western companies pulling out of Russia hurt the population, but the point of sanctions is to hurt the elites and the state. If your company does business with the Russian state then you should probably stop, but hurting Russian consumers directly will only strengthen support for Putin amongst his population.

It is of course up to you to decide, I'm not lecturing or demanding you boycott Decathlon.

What I would say however is that the attitude of the parent company is deplorable and loss of sales from their stores worldwide hits their bottom line and may make them rethink their attitude to Russia.

Secondly, the Russian people are living in a parallel universe, though not of their own making, and some will react by supporting the Russian state but not all. The more sanctions bite the more likely it is that they will question the whether their "special operations" are worth it and question whether they really are being told the truth and start wondering if those within Russia who don't buy the state propaganda are perhaps on to something after all. Essentially it just helps to drive a wedge into the cracks which already exist as other information seeps through the wall of state lies.

Finally, the more that businesses in Russia are able to continue operating the more tax revenue it generates for the government, the more it can fund its war in Ukraine.

McDonalds have pulled out, which is indicative of the position of leading consumer brands.Same with Unilever and Starbucks. Burger King- half their stores are closed.The othe rhalf is a Russsian franchisee who has refused to close.

Not a good idea to be linked with Russia at all for a consumer brand.

The songbird shotgun shell incident did it for me. Not a company I'd use out of choice

Those criticising Subway (as some have) may also want to take into account that that business is 100% franchised, so while they should cut off their supply lines (have they?) there's very little to stop them staying open with the same ingredients sourced locally.

FWIW I noticed this morning my cheapo Regatta padded jacket has a Cyrillic label.  It's made in Bangladesh but *looks like* it came via a Russian company in some way...hard to weed it all out!

There are other users of Cyrillic, of course. Bulgaria is used for quite a bit of textiles work.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrillic_script

Indeed, but it does have the word Москва* in there, so I think it's probably Russia.

* Moscow

As the great advertising guru Martin Sorrell has pointed out it really is poisionous as a consumer brand to have any links with Russia now.

There again one of Ukraines business success stories in Russia is a supermarket chain called Metro--- and it is still operating there apparently. Shows how difficult these things can be.

Okay, that is a big clue...

Reports state that Nestle has refused to pull out. Could be damaging. I refuse to buy their stuff now.

No change needed for me.

I think in ethical terms Nestle's ship* sailed a rather long time ago.

* A P&O ferry, I guess...

Unfortunately I recently found out that Cailler chocolate also is made by Nestle. Ignorance was bliss.

Shocking, really. Seems like I need a new set of ethics.

More seriously, I am all for basing purchase decisions on ethical considerations, but that leaves you with pretty little options (both personally and at state level).

Gas or oil from Russia? Bad, they bomb white people in Ukraine.

Gas from UAE or Saudi? Much better, they only bomb* brown people in Yemen or behead them at home.

Outsourcing all our manufacturing to China? Works great, ethically. We can take credit for lowering our CO2 emissions, put the emissions on the Chinese ledger, and ignore the extra emissions from shipping entirely. Who cares about a little genocide every few decades?

CB

* the odd terrorist attack they fund over here nonwithstanding

Nestle seem like doing things worth boycotting them for.

Ditto.

I suspect, with a cold, hard business hat on, they've realised they have gone so far down that line in the past that there's no redeeming the situation, and thus they might as well just go for maximum shareholder profit.

When waging war on companies such as Decathlon (for whatever reason, and this is obviously a good one) don't overlook their 100,000 employees worldwide who depend on the company for their livelihood...

Looks like they've pulled some fingers out:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60850209

While we're at it, don't vote Tory while they're under Russian owners

Renault haven't: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/mar/21/renault-moscow-russia-nest...